


House arrest with twist

by LoiseLanes



Category: Avatar: Legend of Korra
Genre: Alternate Universe - Avatar & Benders Setting, Badass Lin Beifong, F/F, Kuvira (Avatar) Redemption, Lesbian Sex
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-21
Updated: 2021-03-12
Packaged: 2021-03-13 13:55:34
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 11
Words: 44,249
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28904475
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LoiseLanes/pseuds/LoiseLanes
Summary: After ruins of the empire:Kuvira is taken to Zaofu to serve her sentence. Contrary to what was assumed, Lin stays behind to personally keep an eye on Kuvira. The two women, who could not be more different and yet more alike, get to know each other in a roundabout way.
Relationships: Lin Beifong & Kuvira
Comments: 94
Kudos: 56





	1. Return to Zaofu

**Author's Note:**

> This is going to be a story between mainly Lin and Kuvira. I had this idea for a while and thoughts became words after some time...

Kuvira blew a strand of hair out of her forehead for what must have been the hundredth time, and it kept tickling the root of her nose. It was incredibly annoying, as it had been the only thing, she could really do to pass the time for several hours. She couldn't even use her hands to brush her hair behind her ears, since she was wearing platinum handcuffs and was also stuck in the cage Asami had made for her. She had no intention of breaking out, nor did she have the strength to seriously attempt an escape, but she had had no say in that matter. Where was she supposed to go? She was on a flight to Zaofu of no return, surrounded by the strongest benders this generation had produced.

After all, her platinum cage was not in one of the many rooms the Future Industries airship had but stood against one wall of the main deck. She squinted over at the group, who were talking quietly. A few times she tried to follow the conversation, but she kept losing her train of thought when the strand of hair fell back into her forehead. Eventually she gave up and just counted the number of windows.

"Are you all right?" Kuvira winced, startled out of her trance. She had come exactly seventy-five windows.

"Yes." she replied curtly, trying not to sound too ill-tempered. Korra stepped from one foot to the other a little sheepishly, while her gaze wandered uncertainly over to Asami. Kuvira followed her eyes and as expected, she met the expressionless face of the rich heiress. Immediately she became aware again of the uncomfortable weight of the belt. When Lin had ordered that she wear it, Asami hadn't even batted an eye. She sighed. "How much longer will it take?" she finally asked, emphatically polite.

"We are already on approach to Zaofu." Korra explained.

Finally, Kuvira thought wistfully. Gradually it was getting uncomfortably warm in her cage.

"You didn't have to do this." said the former Great Uniter, pointing her chin at her cage.

"I know, but you know how Lin is." Korra had objected along with Su, but Lin Beifong had prevailed. Republic City’s chief of police had not yet forgiven her. She didn't care what she had done to free the Avatar's friends from her brainwashing and how she had helped defeat Commander Guan. She didn't trust her five feet over, and if she was honest with herself, she couldn't blame her.

"Yes.", Kuvira repeated mechanically making her head spin.

"But I'm going to get you out now." Korra rattled the key, attracting the attention of the others. Like a bloodhound, Lin immediately jumped up and rushed over to them with quick steps. With her arms crossed, she stopped in front of her.

"You may have the others wrapped around your finger, but you still haven't convinced me of your oh-so-regrettable remorse. If you make even one wrong move or try something stupid, I'll be there! And I hope you'll offer me the opportunity to pay you back for all the mess you've made of my town." The chief pursed her mouth and wrinkled her nose.

"Lin, I really don't think-" Korra began, but Kuvira interrupted her.

"Don't worry, chief." She put extra emphasis on the last word.

The older woman's lower lids twitched, and when she said no more about it, Korra unlocked the cage. Pleasantly cool air flowed toward Kuvira and she stepped out of her platinum box. Her legs felt stiff and heavy from standing for so long, but she didn't let it show. Slowly she raised her hands above her head and enjoyed the freedom of movement she now had. Her fingers tingled as she noticed all the metal around her. Both Lin's armor and the disguises in the airship would have needed only a hint of her thoughts and they would have formed to her will. She closed her eyes for a moment, then lowered her arms again. Who knows when she would ever get the chance to bend again.

A slight jolt went through the airship and Kuvira briefly lost her balance. Immediately, Lin's arm shot forward and grabbed her by the upper arm as if she had just attempted to escape for the first time. Her natural reaction would have been to break free of her grip, but she let it go. She didn't want to cause trouble just yet.

"Passengers may proceed to the hatch. We have just docked at Zaofu Airport." a tinny voice came from the speakers above their heads.

"Finally!" Su's voice warbled across the deck and she joined them along with Asami. The rest of the Beifongs had left earlier, while Su and Lin were still busy with the necessary paperwork to officially transfer Kuvira to Zaofu. "You can let go of her now Lin" She pointed a finger at the hand still clutching Kuvira's upper arm.

"Su, don't start that now." Lin ruled her sister. "I'm responsible for safe transportation, that's what the papers say. So let me do my job."

Su sighed but raised her hands defensively. Her foster mother gave her an indulgent look and Kuvira just nodded absently. She would let it wash over her, for soon Lin would be gone.

Korra and Asami led the way and left the main deck first, followed by Kuvira and Lin, then Su came after them. The walk out of the airship didn't take too long, and Kuvira had to squint her eyes as the bright daylight shone into them. Lin, however, simply pulled her along without giving her a chance to adjust to the brightness and led her down the ramp, away from the airship.

Kuvira looked around her old home. It was a strange feeling to be back here. After leaving the city with Baatar Jr. she had only been back once. Her eyes wandered out onto the vast plain where her army had once stood at the gates of Zaofu, and she thought she could still see the bumps where she had fought with Korra. Ashamed, she lowered her eyes. For a brief moment, she regretted having to serve her sentence here. She had done irreparable harm to the people she lived with, and she had a dull feeling of wanting to hide behind Lin. As captain of the guard of Zaofu, she had enjoyed great prestige, but now she returned here with the shame of her deeds like a mangy mutt. Her former friends and comrades would treat her with contempt, and that was almost worse for her than the idea of rotting alone in a cell.

"Lin, that's the wrong direction." she heard Su say behind her. Abruptly, the police chief stopped and turned around.

"The prison is in that direction." she said, raising a brow.

"Kuvira won't be taken to the prison, though." Su explained calmly, walking towards her.

"What do you mean?" barked Lin, tightening her grip on her arm so that it almost hurt.

"It means that Kuvira is being taken to her old room." Su now put a hand on her shoulder, but Lin looked like a volcano about to erupt.

"What?!" she cried, "She's still a war criminal and should be in prison under the strictest guard!"

"She is under house arrest in Zaofu. You bear the responsibility for bringing her here; everything else is my responsibility. I alone bear the responsibility if anything happens or she tries to escape." Su stated emphatically calmly, but her words didn't seem to even begin to reach Lin.

"You can't be serious?"

"Yes Lin, I am. And now I would ask you to take her to her room."

Republic City’s chief looked at her sister with wide eyes, then turned to the Avatar in search of help.

"What do you say to that?" she growled, obviously helpless to the arrangements that had been made.

Korra straightened her shoulders and gave Asami an uncertain look, as if she had to get her permission first. "After everything that happened in Gaoling, I really don't see the need to take Kuvira to prison. I don't assume that she will escape."

Kuvira held her breath, grateful for the Avatar's words. In fact, she harboured no interest in ever leaving her quarters again, due in part to Lin's reaction. She was sure that no one really wanted her here, and that was increasingly giving her a headache.

"We'll be here for a few more days to take care of her." Korra continued now. "And you can make sure everything is in order yourself. Su is guaranteeing safety. That's what we all signed up for."

The chains holding her wrists together rattled as Lin shook with anger. The chief had to be literally tearing it up to put up with her sister's orders. Kuvira knew all too well how the two stood with each other, and even though it seemed as if they had been able to put much of their quarrelling aside, the air now literally flickered with unspoken accusations. Nevertheless, the older woman surrendered to the orders of the matriarch and the Avatar and pulled her in the other direction without any further comment.

Kuvira struggled to keep up with her pace, but she didn't let it show. The police chief's armour rattled loudly as she dragged her along between Zaofu's houses, finally stopping in front of the Beifongs' house. The former Great Uniter would have liked a few seconds to catch her breath before entering her old home, but Lin didn't give her a chance. Snatches of memories of her old life forced themselves into her mind and she squinted her eyes. She hadn't thought it would be so painful. Kuvira kept her eyes down and her feet found their way to her old room all by themselves. She didn't even need Lin to guide her.

From another corridor she heard Wing and Wei, but she ignored the twins and even quickened her steps a bit. She didn't have the nerve to deal with the entire Beifong clan at once and was glad when Lin finally stopped in front of her room. The brown-haired woman hoped that Baatar Jr., who was also under house arrest here in Zaofu, still had his quarters in one of the other wings of the building and that she wouldn't run into him so soon. Actually, she didn't want to run into anyone. All she wanted was to close that damn door behind her and never open it again.

Lin opened the door and pushed her inside but didn't close it behind her. Kuvira turned towards her, now that she was no longer holding her by the arm, and looked over her shoulder to see Su enter. Korra followed her, Asami remained standing outside watching everything without saying a word.

"Can we take these off now?" she asked, holding up her handcuffs. Lin's brows slid up as she did so, almost touching her hairline.

"Asami, would you hand me the key to the belt?" asked Su politely, and Kuvira shifted her weight to her other foot, waiting.

The heiress slipped a hand into her pants pocket and placed a small silver key, presumably also platinum, in Su's palm. Kuvira raised her hands for Su to finally release her from the torture tool. With a satisfying click, the lock popped open and Su took the belt from her.

"I'd rather she kept the handcuffs." Lin said morosely, but Su paid no attention and released her from them as well. Relieved, Kuvira rubbed her sore wrists, wishing she was finally left alone.

"I know it must be hard for you to be back here after everything that happened." Su looked at her sympathetically, but Kuvira found it hard to perceive the sincerity in her words. "Make yourself at home may still be inappropriate, but you are free to move about the house under the supervision of one of the guards. For now."

"As long as I'm here, I'll take care of that. And she'll stay in her room until I pick her up or take her somewhere else." Lin interrupted her gruffly. Kuvira looked at her with a blank expression, but Su just rolled her eyes. She passed over Lin's remark as if she hadn't heard it.

"If you've earned my trust, I'm inclined to extend it to the garden, but we'll see about that." Kuvira nodded, accepting her distrust without much emotion. "There will be dinner in an hour. You're welcome to join us."

"Thank you.", Kuvira said politely and waited to be left alone. Korra said goodbye to her and walked down the hall hand in hand with Asami, and Su followed them as well until it was just her and Lin left.

The chief walked to the door and closed it quietly, then turned to her with her finger raised. "I don't care what Su says. As long as I am here you will not leave the room unless I ask you to. The door won't be locked, but I'll be right across the hall and will know if you go anywhere else." She glared at her angrily and Kuvira let her sermon wash over her impassively. Of course, Lin would have a room near her, she thought, inwardly shrugging her shoulders.

"Is that all?" she asked a little irritably, waiting for Republic City’s police chief to finally leave her alone.

"For now." Lin gave her one last threatening look, then pulled the door open and threw it into the lock behind her.

Kuvira allowed herself a deep breath and let the tension gradually fall away from her like worn clothing. She looked around her old room and strangely felt something like homesickness. Her bed had been freshly made and she wearily settled down on it. She stroked the fine fabric with one hand and smelled the detergent that reminded her of the days of her childhood. How lonely and sad she had been when she had first entered this room. Disowned by her parents because she had been too difficult as a child. Basically, not much had changed, she thought bitterly.

Her eyes fell on the tall bookshelf set into the wall opposite. She saw the children's books that Su had given her as a welcome present back then and the many readings about dance forms and physical exercises. The thought made her smile involuntarily. When was the last time she had danced? She had always felt so free and careless when she had combined bending forms and dance steps with her friends and Su.

On her desk, which was to the left of the bed, was a stack of blank paper and enough ink. Did Su think she was keeping something like a diary? At least she couldn't write letters. She didn't know who she would send them to, nor if she was even allowed to.

The picture hanging above her bed was new. Curious, she looked at it. It showed Republic City and the new portal to the spirit world that had been created there. Huan had probably painted it, and it was most likely Lin who had placed it there to make her stay as uncomfortable as possible. She briefly considered taking it off, but finally decided against it. She didn't want to cause more trouble than was absolutely necessary.

Kuvira looked around her old room again and finally recognized a pile of fresh clothes carefully placed on her nightstand. She was still wearing the dark green robe she had been given in the prison. The coarse fabric chafed against her skin, and even though she didn't like to admit it, she longed for more comfortable clothing. She rose from the bed and grabbed the pile of fresh clothes and opened the door into her bathroom. It was spotlessly clean, almost exactly as she had left it. She had always placed great importance on cleanliness. Not because Su had drilled it into her from an early age, but because she liked everything to be in order. A tendency that had become her doom.

She got rid of her prison clothes and took a refreshing shower. In Republic City she had been given nothing more than a hard bar of soap, which had probably already passed through the hands of several prisoners, and they had only let her shower with handcuffs. But this was not really a shower. A guard had doused her twice with a bucket of cold water. Once to wet and soap her up and the second time to wash her off. So now she took more time than she needed to get clean and let the warm water run over her sore body.

When the steam had thickly fogged the small windowless room, she turned off the water and slipped into her new clothes. She briefly looked for the metal accessories that the Metal Clan usually wore, but then realized that they had not been put there for her, of course. Kuvira rubbed her wet hair dry and was about to tie it back into a topknot at the back of her head, but then she decided to change her mind. Instead, with flowing movements, she braided it into a long tail that fell heavily between her shoulder blades. She felt strangely alien as she wiped the fogged mirror and saw herself with this hairstyle. Still, it felt right.

When she stepped back into her room, there was already someone standing in front of her bed, waiting for her. Lin looked at her sullenly, still in her uniform. Even though she was clothed, she suddenly felt strangely defenseless under the gaze of the older woman, who eyed her suspiciously.

"Don't I have any privacy?" asked Kuvira bitingly, trying to cover her sudden uncertainty.

"No.", Lin replied gruffly.

"Do I have to ask permission to take a bath?" She now folded her arms in front of her chest in the same manner as Lin and leaned against the doorframe.

"No." repeated Lin archly, then clicked her tongue impatiently. "There's dinner."

"I'm not hungry!" lied Kuvira, who indeed hadn't eaten since a meagre meal this morning and had a big hole in her stomach.

"I don't care. You're coming."

Kuvira weighed her chances of how she would fare in a discussion with Lin, but finally gave in. The chief was still standing there as if expecting something from her, and Kuvira looked around the room as if she had forgotten something.

"Can we go then?" she asked, already heading for the door, but Lin held her back. Kuvira heard a tell-tale rattle and had to bite her tongue to avoid saying anything inappropriate. "Is that really necessary?"

"Yes.", Lin replied and let the handcuffs snap open.

She hesitated for a brief moment, but then held out her hands and with an oppressive snap, the cuffs closed around her joints. Lin put a hand on her back and pushed her out of her room.

"Is this always going to be like this now?" asked Kuvira when they had been walking side by side in silence for a while.

"You should worry less about gaining Su's trust and much more about gaining mine." Kuvira at first wanted to counter that she could have bend the metal wires in her armour when she had shown up so unexpectedly in her room, but she pulled herself together. Such statements would be guaranteed to make a counterproductive impression on Lin. And the chief would probably leave soon anyway, so she would just have to play along for the time being. After all, she had no other choice.

Kuvira could hear snatches of conversation coming from the spacious dining room out into the hallway. She tried to prepare herself inwardly for the encounter with the Beifong family, but they were across the hallway far too quickly for her to have been able to brace herself. As soon as Lin and her appeared in the doorway, all conversation died and she only managed to glance around for a few seconds before lowering her eyes to the tips of her feet in shame.

Lin pushed her rudely to one of the two empty chairs at the end of the left row of tables and pulled one of them back so she could sit down. Once seated, Lin unlocked her handcuffs so she could at least eat unimpeded. She stared feverishly at the empty plate on the table in front of her and listened as conversation slowly resumed. She folded her hands in her lap and waited quietly for the food to be served.

Lin took a seat next to her, of course, and Kuvira ventured a shy glance around the table. Right across from her sat Korra and Asami, their hands intertwined under the tabletop. Next to them sat Wing and Wei, who were engrossed in a conversation about Power Disc, whatever that was. At the head of the table, Su and Baatar Sr. had taken seats, the same ones as ever. To the left of Su, at the end of the row of tables where she sat, was a young man with an innocent-looking face. Kuvira identified him as Hong Li, who had formerly served with her in the Zaofu guard and, from his seat, was apparently the new captain. To his right sat Huan, who was bending his fork into something that was probably supposed to be art. Kuvira noticed that Opal's chair had been moved away, creating a little more space between Huan and Lin. Whether this was intentional, she could not and would not judge.

But then she noticed that a certain person was missing. Probably the one she was most afraid of. She couldn't see Baatar Jr. anywhere, and in the bottom of her heart she was very relieved that he wasn't present. Even though they had a brief opportunity to talk after Asami's brainwashing, there were still too many emotions that stood between them for her to have met him easily.

Lin seemed to have noticed her confusion and leaned over slightly to hers with a soft creak of her chair. "If you're looking for Baatar Jr., I'm sorry to disappoint you." She sounded almost a little spiteful. "He's eating in his quarters."

Kuvira gave her a frustrated look. "And why can't I have dinner in my room?"

"Because I said so," she countered brusquely, leaning back again. The conversation was over for her.

Kuvira noticed the suspicious glances of the others, whose conversations had long since stopped rippling along as uninhibitedly as they had before her appearance, but she didn't care. She just hoped to get the meal over quickly and then disappear back to her room, assuming her watchdog of a chaperone would allow her.

"Are you going to be okay with your old room?", Su suddenly addressed her directly, and it took Kuvira a moment to understand that she was talking to her.

"Yes, thank you," she replied composedly. Su looked confident, but she also looked like she was more than uncomfortable with the whole situation. Finally, it was Korra who tried to save the mood.

"What do you think about a training match tomorrow?" she suggested, and Kuvira almost choked on the water she was drinking.

"Out of the question. No bending.", Lin answered in her place. 

She couldn't even blame her, and in fact she was very surprised at Korra's unusual offer. She could even see Asami squeezing her hand under the tabletop. She remembered all too well what had happened last time. Korra could only escape her certain doom with the help of her airbenders.

"You can't keep her away from everything," Korra now objected, addressing Lin directly.

"You could just take away her bending, and then I wouldn't care where she went."

Now it wasn't just Kuvira alone who gave Lin a shocked look. She had already feared that this topic had been discussed in her absence and most likely with President Moon. It was the most efficient way to eliminate her as a potential threat.

"Lin!" indignant Su jumped up so fast she almost knocked over her chair in the process. "You of all people should know how terrible it is to lose your bending!"

"Yes, and I of all people know that would give us one less thing to worry about," she explained herself in a decidedly matter-of-fact voice.

Of all those present, Asami Sato was the only one who didn't seem to be entirely averse to this suggestion. She met her with an ice-cold stare that needed no further words. At the moment, she was glad not to be wearing the belt anymore.

"I'm not going to take away her bending," Korra said in a firm voice. "Let's be clear about that."

Before anyone could object otherwise, the chef jerked in with a cart piled high with their dinner. He made a face like someone who had just walked in on something very embarrassing and stopped rooted to the spot as he sensed the aggressive mood.

"Please.", Su asked him to put the food on, ending the discussion.

The former pirate cleared his throat and then hesitantly began passing out the plates. "Tonight, we're having a papaya salad, along with roasted elephant kois on a cabbage risotto," he explained hastily, then he loaded three plates at once onto each of his heavily tattooed arms and moved quickly from table to table.

Kuvira thanked him politely, and when the last plate was set down, he disappeared as hastily as if a horde of rhinos were after him. A few times Su and Korra tried to cheer up the frosty mood, but they quickly gave up. Dinner was eaten almost entirely in silence, and as soon as she finished, she heard the rattle of the handcuffs Lin pulled out.

"There's still dessert!" ruled Su from the top of the table, but Lin wasn't impressed.

"She's not hungry anymore."

Kuvira looked into Lin's green eyes and was about to disagree that she very much wanted dessert, but she had a dull feeling that it was in her best interest not to upset Lin any further. That she was seriously considering trying to take away her bending scared her for a day more than she could admit to herself. Then she looked over at Su, who was watching her sister like a lurking predator.

"Thank you for dinner." She stood up without another word and held out her hands to Lin so demonstratively that she thought she could hear a soft snort from Wing. Or was it Wei, she'd never been good at telling the two apart.

Lin pushed her out of the hall in front of her and led her back to her quarters without another word. Outside her room, she removed her handcuffs again, and Kuvira wondered if the woman had a deep-seated sadistic streak, because she seemed to take obvious and rather twisted pleasure in putting them on her.

"Just so we're clear, you're staying in this room until I tell you otherwise," she said flatly, opening the door for her.

"Where else would I go.", Kuvira replied irritably.

"I know when you're going to be somewhere other than this room," the chief barked.

Lin gave her one last grim look, then went back down the hall and not into the opposite room as expected. Kuvira sighed and rubbed her temples with her fingers. The exhilarated mood was giving her a headache.

She closed the door of the room behind her and turned on the light. The familiar smell of her childhood flooded in, calming her a bit. She walked over to her bookshelf and took out a reading.

_Earthbending Masters of the Modern Era_

Her fingers stroked the rough cover and then she stretched out on the bed. The book had been given to her by Baatar Sr. just before she left, and she hadn't had a chance to look at it closely until now. She had been too busy with her preparations for the Earth Empire to have time for such mundane things as reading.

Kuvira opened the book and skimmed the table of contents. When she spotted the name Toph Beifong under chapter twenty-six, she slammed it shut again, unnerved. Of course, the Beifongs were in that list somewhere. At the same time, she wondered if in a few years the children in the schools would hear about her and her failed attempt to establish the Earth Empire. The thought caused her stomach to twist and she tossed and turned restlessly before she ran the risk of vomiting up her dinner.

A knock snapped her out of her agonizing malaise, and she sat up.

"Come in." she said aloud, wondering if she even had the right to deny other people entry into her chambers. Lin had made it very clear to her that she apparently had no right to privacy.

She had expected Su to enter, but she was surprised when she saw the Avatar. Korra closed the door behind her and then stood in the middle of the room, undecided. Kuvira waited for her to say something.

"Tough day, huh?" She awkwardly scratched the back of her head and wrestled a smile from herself.

"I'll deal with it," Kuvira replied diplomatically.

Korra sighed and slumped her shoulders. "I'm really sorry that Lin is so insistent on ... well you know."

"It is indeed troublesome, but understandable." Kuvira slid back and forth on the edge of the bed, waiting for the Avatar to get to the point.

"Lin was just in the dining room again." Korra almost looked like she was in physical pain. "She said she told Mako to cover for her a little longer."

Kuvira swallowed hard as she guessed the meaning behind her words. Wonderful, she thought.

"She's going to stay here longer because she wants to keep an eye on you," she now explained without mincing words, and all of Kuvira's features now slipped away. "Su and I have tried to explain to her that it's not necessary, but she insists. She... doesn't trust you." 

There were many things she was not looking forward to in Zaofu. But the fact that Lin would now play her chaperone for longer topped even her worst imaginings. As hard as she tried to find something positive about it, she just couldn't.

"I was serious about the training match, though," Korra said quickly, and before she could say anything back, the Avatar rebuffed her. "I know, I know, Lin objects, but maybe I can convince her. I am the Avatar, after all." Korra half-heartedly stuck both thumbs in the air, but Kuvira seriously doubted the Avatar's authority would hold up against the stubborn metalbender.

"Whatever you say," she merely said, shrugging her shoulders.

Korra wished her a good night and then left her alone in the now far too bright light of her room. Her nightmare had just turned into a hell ride.


	2. Harsh words

Lin was busy putting on her armour when a small folded note was slipped under her door. At first, she ignored it for quite a while, finishing her morning routine before finally bending down to pick it up. For a brief moment she had considered putting on the fresh clothes Su had had brought her, but she didn't trust the calm. If Kuvira was going to allow herself anything, she wanted more standing between her and the metalbender than a few layers of cloth.

She unfolded the note and read:

_Please come to my office. The guard who gave you this message will take care of my other guest in the meantime. Su._

Lin narrowed her eyes when she read the word _guest_. She understood her sister's dig, and it made her mood even worse than she thought possible when she woke up in the early morning.

The chief put the note in a drawer of her desk and with one swift movement banded the sole of her boot away. She lashed out and slammed her heel hard into the floor. She closed her eyes and let her seismic senses work for her. Outside the door across the hall stood one of the guards in full armour. She could even feel the metal of his chestplate and was at least grateful for his circumspection where Kuvira was concerned. The waves of her sixth sense continued to beat out and along with some servants scurrying around the house, she found the person she was looking for. Kuvira was standing in her bathroom and was exactly where she had suspected her to be.

At least, Lin thought, and with a quick movement, bend her boot sole back into place. Without further ado, she left her room and caught the guard's eye. The man snapped his heels together when he saw her and Lin noticed with deepest satisfaction the effect she had on Zaofu's guard as well.

"If anything happens, I want to know," she ruled the bearded guard and he nodded dutifully.

Lin sighed, noticing the malaise gathering in the pit of her stomach like a malignant tumour. Su's office was not far away, but it would take her a few moments too long to get back here if Kuvira attempted an escape. The former Great Uniter would know she was no longer across the street because, like all Beifongs, she possessed the seismic powers.

On the way to Su, she only ran into Huan, who didn't even look up from what he was holding in his hands. He mumbled something to himself that sounded like "It's not a banana" and Lin wondered when Su would finally forbid him this stupid haircut. Outside the door, she stopped short and braced herself for the coming conversation. She and Su had made up to some extent, but they were still far too different as people for a confrontation to have gone completely smoothly.

Before she could knock, the door burst open in front of her and Baatar Sr. slammed into her. Lin didn't even falter as all the stacks of binders and folders fell out of his hands.

"Oh sorry!" he said hastily, quickly gathering his paperwork. Lin bent down and picked up some of the folders that were right in front of her feet and slid them onto the pile that was already forming in his arms again. With a slight bow, he fled the room, and she closed the door behind him.

"What is it?" she asked without mincing words. Su had just watched the disaster unfold in silence and sat behind her massive desk with her fingertips together.

"Good morning to you, too, Lin." she warbled in an emphatically polite manner, and Lin had to pull herself together not to groan aloud.

"Why did you ask me here?"

"I want to talk to you about Kuvira," Su then explained, running a hand through her hair.

"Of course you do."

"And how you've been acting." she then added a little more sternly.

"How I acted?" repeated Lin incredulously, taking a step toward her.

"That's right. You can't treat her like a prisoner all the time," Su began carefully, but just as Lin had expected, her patience thread snapped, sooner than she had assumed.

"But she _is_ a prisoner!" shouted Lin gruffly.

"People behave the way you treat them. If we look at her like one of our own, then she will behave accordingly." Su's voice was calm and matter-of-fact, but as hard as Lin tried, she barely managed to quell her seething anger.

"Oh yeah, that worked out wonderfully last time, if I remember correctly." Su winced a little at her verbal sideswipe, but Lin didn't care. "Did she or did she not just run off and knock the guards unconscious last time she was here? And that happened on your watch!"

Su pursed her lips, and Lin could hear her feet scuffing restlessly across the floor even without earthbending. "She helped put a stop to Guan. That's why she disappeared. I'm not saying I think that's a good thing, but she didn't just run away. And I'm asking you to consider that."

"That doesn't change the fact that she's escaped before. You're letting the leash too loose, Su! Your judgment is primed and your maternal feelings for her won't let you see clearly. She knows how to escape, and it will happen again, I promise you."

"My maternal feelings for her are the only thing that makes me still have faith in her," Su said and Lin could see the corners of her mouth droop a little. "She's changed Lin, why can't you see that."

"She almost killed Guan, you said so yourself." Lin remembered all too well what Su had told her after the experiences in Gaoling. When Kuvira had fled Zaofu to confront Guan, she had almost gone one step too far in doing so. Almost.

"But she didn't. She listened to me and showed mercy," Su explained, her expression brightening in a sickening way.

"But you won't always be with her to whisper lovingly in her ear when she's about to make a bad decision again," roared Lin, who couldn't for the life of her understand her sister's good nature. "She's a ticking time bomb. She always has been. Why do you think her parents gave her away back then?"

"Lin!" Now Su was holding nothing in her chair. She jumped up and for a small moment she felt like the metal walls would shake under her wrath. The armour definitely hadn't been a bad decision. "How dare you say such a thing? That's exactly the kind of statement that got her this far in the first place!"

"Then let her be taken to prison and prove her good will there. Then you can still decide if she's worth serving her sentence here in the house." Lin's neck stiffened uncomfortably, and she grew noticeably warmer in her armour as she heard Su flare up.

"She's been in prison since the fight of Republic City, and she's done NOTHING there that could have inferred bad behaviour. Why wouldn't I invite her in and give her a chance to mend her ways?" Su looked almost sad at the last words, seeking something like compassion in Lin's gaze.

"Because you've always preferred to sit at a table with criminals rather than put them where they belong. Namely, to a fucking prison.", Lin now challenged her and as soon as the last word left her lips, she feared she had gone too far.

To her surprise, Su did not yell or scream at her. The matriarch of the Metal Clan straightened up, sublimely brushed a stray strand from her face, and tightened her shoulders.

"Lin." she raised with more control over her tone than Lin would have thought possible. "I let you get away with your behaviour yesterday because you were responsible for safe transportation. But Kuvira is now in my custody and I want to remind you that you also signed for that responsibility to be mine. You have no authority here and this is not Republic City. So stop acting like the police chief. I'm asking you as a sister and I'm telling you as the matriarch of the Metal Clan to back off. Otherwise, I will have to insist that you fly back to Republic City, which I would really hate to do." Su walked around the table and approached her. She put more gentleness into her words than Lin actually deserved. "Please Lin, give her a chance. She can't prove to you that she's improved if you don't even give her the opportunity. Stay as long as you think it's necessary, but please, give her a chance, will you?"

Lin had so many objections on the tip of her tongue. Everything in her resisted giving Kuvira even the slightest chance. Not only had this woman almost completely destroyed her wonderful city, no, she had also captured and threatened her family. Kuvira was a global threat and should be treated as such. But she forced herself to throw Sus's objections into the balance as well. Kuvira had indeed helped put a stop to Guan, albeit in a very questionable way. And she had ultimately pleaded guilty at court. Twice, in fact, if she thought about it. The first time after she and Korra had created the new portal, and the second time when she had pleaded guilty in court. And she had no right whatsoever to simply ignore Su's orders as if she were nothing more than the annoying sister of hers.

She shook her head quietly and was about to tell Su that she would hold back and wait and see when a tremendous tremor shook the ground beneath her feet. Glasses clinked and the crystal chandelier under the ceiling swayed menacingly.

"What was that?" asked Su and was nearly knocked off her feet by another tremor. Lin reached for Su, who was no different, and they supported each other.

"It's possibly Korra and Kuvira," Su admitted with a contrite face.

"What?!" shouted Lin, looking at her first aghast, then angry, then aghast again. "Su, what-“ This time the tremor was so extremely loud that she couldn't even hear her own words.

"I asked you here so they could have their training match," she explained once the walls stopped shaking.

"You what?", Lin yelled at her. "Su, how could you? You just did it again! First the thing with Aiwei and now this! I told you that I wouldn't leave her side and you just betray me again. How am I supposed to give anyone a chance here if this is how it's going to go down?"

Lin didn't wait for her answer anymore but left the office with fleeing steps. How could Su? But more likely, she wondered, how could she herself be so stupid as to fall for this again? Lin growled and quickened her steps until she got out into the open. She didn't even have to look far to see where the action was, because she could already see some huge rocks flying through the air where Wing and Wei's arena was.

She ran as fast as she hadn't had to in a long time on duty and was already reaching for the metal wires in her armour with her bending. A few times she had to dodge the inhabitants of Zaofu, who were going about their daily business on the streets and reaped surprised and sometimes even savage exclamations. Lin didn't care, but simply sprinted on. She hadn't spent the entire flight trying to stop the woman from subduing her, if the Avatar was now going to parade into her path so easily and willingly expose herself to a danger, she was trying to protect Korra from. Who knows what went through Kuvira's mind once she cornered Korra, even if it was just for training? She had already had two opportunities to dispose of the Avatar to assert her claims to dominance, and both times she was willing to take the ultimate step. At the gates of Zaofu and in Republic City itself. Even though she no longer trusted Kuvira with such a vile goal, she dreaded it.

She came to a skidding halt and took a quick survey with a trained eye. On one of the lower tiers stood Asami, much too close to the action, in her opinion. Beside her, the two nephew twins hooted and bawled, even cheering on the two women in the arena.

Lin jumped down the steps and looked over at the fighters in the arena. The steel columns for the Power Disc game had been brought down for the fight, and in their place some chunks of earth had been moved into the arena to provide the fighters with enough bending material. She didn't know if it was because she had possibly entered the arena at the wrong time or if her premonition had really come true, but what she saw confirmed all her fears. Korra was lying on the ground, bleeding from a wound on her head, and Kuvira was standing with clenched fists a meter in front of her, a large rock above her head.

Without wasting another second, Lin bend the metal beneath her feet and catapulted herself into the arena in a high arc. While still in flight, she loosened the metal wires and shot them down at the former Great Uniter.

Lin's foot crashed against the boulder over Kuviras head, hurling it against the wall of the arena with a hollow sound as the metal wires came to nothing. Kuvira dodged it so smoothly that her metal cords hit the ground, sparking and ineffective.

The chief landed ungently on the floor and immediately fell into a fighting stance. She threw both arms forward and let the metal cords shoot out again. Kuvira shifted her feet slightly, but when their eyes met, she paused exactly where she was. With a whirring sound, the ropes wrapped around her body and pinned her arms to her sides.

"What are you doing?" barked Lin, and when she was sure that Kuvira was immobilized for the moment, she looked over at Korra. The Avatar was already getting back up and looking at her with wide eyes.

"It's all right Lin." she raised cautiously, but the bleeding wound on her forehead spoke a different language.

"It looks very different to me though!" She pointed her chin at her forehead. 

"You learn from your mistakes," Korra only shrugged in reply, then wiped the blood and sweat from her face. Lin let a searching glance wander over her body and saw that her clothes were torn in several places at once.

Then she turned to Kuvira, who still remained completely motionless in the spot where she held her.

"I saw quite clearly that you were avoiding me. And it didn't escape my notice that you were about to launch a counterattack." Lin pointed a finger at her feet, which had shifted in earthbending fashion earlier when she had attacked.

"You can't blame me for dodging a punch in the middle of a fight," Kuvira said calmly.

"In the middle of a fight?" Lin flared her nostrils. "Korra was on the ground!"

"Lin, it's really all right," Korra now tried to reassure her. Now the other spectators joined them in the arena. "Besides, Asami insisted that she wear the belt."

Lin's eyes shot to the bound woman's hip and now she recognized the green circle on the belt buckle. "At least there's one in her right mind here," she grunted.

"Korra picked me up and assured me it was all right. Su agreed." Kuvira put extra emphasis on the Metal Clan leader's name at that, and it took all of Lin's remaining willpower not to slap her across the face.

"We could all use a little cooling off right now," Korra finally said, anxious to ease the charged mood. "Thanks for the match Kuvira."

Lin realized that she had overreacted a tiny bit, even if she would never admit it. With a growl, she bend the metal ropes back into her armour, and Kuvira rubbed her arms, which showed red marks. As the others left the arena, Lin took a step toward Kuvira. Unlike the others, however, she had no intention of cooling down, she was just getting warmed up. 

"If you're so keen on bending, then fight me. That's been a long time coming."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I tried to explain Lin's behavior a little better based on the comments in the previous chapter. In addition, a bending match now follows, which will not only provide for scraped skin.


	3. Colliding metal

Kuvira felt the urgent need to clean her ears when she heard what Lin had just said. In disbelief, she leaned forward a little as if she were an old woman whose hearing needed a little help. Her self-proclaimed guardian's scars shone a fearsome red as she looked at her face contorted with rage. Kuvira regretted, not for the first time, getting involved in the match by Korra.

"No, thank you." she replied curtly. She had already had a dim suspicion that the whole idea was absolutely hare-brained as soon as Korra had turned up at her door. Kuvira had tried to convince the Avatar otherwise, but she had underestimated the young woman's persistence. In the end, she had been persuaded to come to the arena with her and Asami, especially since Su was in favour of the plan.

Now she saw what she got out of it. It certainly wasn't her peace of mind.

"Let's get this out of the way, once and for all. And when I've given you a good thrashing, then maybe I'll reconsider my attitude where your person is concerned," Lin said sourly, her posture telling her in no uncertain terms that she would not leave this arena without a fight.

Kuvira knew Lin was a talented bender, just like herself, but she was younger and faster and that gave her a considerable advantage. Even though the idea of another fight electrified her, she didn't want to upset Lin any more than she already had.

"I'm not sure a fight will help you to forgive me," she replied quietly, but stayed where she was.

"No one said anything about forgiveness."

Lin stamped her right foot, bending a fist-sized rock from the lump that had been hovering over her moments ago, and with a flick of her wrist, the projectile hurtled towards her. Kuvira closed her eyes and felt the rough texture of the rock tickle her cheek as the stone whizzed past her. Without question, a masterful shot. She forced herself not to move an inch.

"Fight back!", Lin urged her, and in the same way bend another stone, this time hitting her hard on the shoulder. She gasped, but again did not move. She would suffer the wrath of the chief and hopefully that would be that.

"I don't want to fight you," she said stiff-necked. "If that's what you need, then vent your anger."

Now Lin became even angrier, which surprised Kuvira greatly. The bottomless hatred for her seemed to know no bounds. She immediately bend several of the fist-sized stones from the lump and launched them at her in quick succession. At first Kuvira wanted to withstand the stones, but when she was hit successively against the chest, in the stomach and against her shin, the pain brought tears to her eyes and she dodged the last shots.

She pranced and ducked away under Lin's attacks until the rocks she fired at her became too big, forcing her willy-nilly to deflect them with her bending. What was left of the large rock Lin now catapulted at her with such force that she dropped to a low stance and caught the chunk with outstretched hands. She clenched her teeth and split the rock, sending it crashing to the ground on either side of her.

"Attack!", Lin roared towards her. Breathing heavily from her dodges, Kuvira looked at the red welts still gleaming on her arms in the light of the morning sun.

"All right." she murmured softly, now abandoning her restraint.

Her first thought was to bend the metal ropes in her armour and strike the older woman with her own weapons, but that seemed a little drastic. Instead, she dug the soles of her feet into the earth and focused on the four pillars sunk into the ground below them. With a jerk of her arms, they bolted out and now they had more than bare earth to bend.

Lin made a startled impression, but immediately regained her composure. She took cover behind one of the pillars while Kuvira concentrated on the small elemental particles inside. With flowing and rapid fly-offs of movements, she bend several hand-wide discs down from the pillar and sent them hurtling through the air. They smashed sonically into the column above Lin's head, causing the older woman to let her guard down.

"You didn't even hit me!" she sneered at her across the field. "You're holding back!"

Of course Kuvira held back. Or did she expect her to fight her with all her strenght? Lin, for her part, seemed to intend to do just that, for she immediately prised the whole column apart. The metal unfolded under her movements like a blanket and hovered in the air for a moment, then she swatted at Kuvira with it as if to drive away an annoying fly.

The brown-haired woman scrambled to the side and inhaled the dust left on the arena floor by the chunks of earth and coughed. Before Lin could strike at her again, she helped herself to the many small stones lying around and with a flick of her heel she sent a veritable beam of them towards Lin's feet. The chief, still focused on the metal plate in the air, saw the attack coming too late and was swept off her feet. She and the demolished pillar fell clattering to the ground and Kuvira immediately shifted her weight and now seized the metal in her turn. She bend the slab into the air and brought it crashing down on Lin before she could get up. With one leap, she reached forward and caused the metal to fuse with the bottom, pinning Lin down.

Lin emitted an animalistic sound and the plate lifted under her yelp. Explosively, it flung her back towards it and Kuvira hesitated a second too long. At first, she wanted to bend the metal around her so that it flew past her without causing any damage, but she didn't want to win this fight at all. It would only inflame Lin's rage even more and so she raised her arms protectively in front of her face as the plate crashed against her. Kuvira was thrown far backwards and rolled several times across the bare floor of the arena. Shaking for breath, she braced herself on her knees, for the impact had been harder than she had thought.

Lin had long since regained her feet and was currently bending the next column. She made small round metal balls and peppered them at her position. With frantic movements of her wrists, she let one after the other slide past her so that they hit the walls of the arena with a shrill sound, leaving deep holes. She caught the last ball, spun around in a crouched position, and hurled it back at Lin with less momentum than necessary. With a soft noise, it banged against her hip without causing any damage and fell to the ground.

"Stop holding back," she spat at her, using now the metal ropes in her armour. There was a whirring sound, then she cracked the wires at her like whips. Kuvira spiralled upwards, bending and twisting, but she could not prevent herself from being hit a few times. The pain squeezed the air out of her lungs and now her façade of restraint completely collapsed.

She jumped to the side at the next descent of the ropes and performed a perfect arc with her left leg. As her heel hit the metal, it cut through the rope as if it were nothing more than a thin thread. Kuvira bend the loose piece of metal to her will and placed it in wide little plates around her shoulders as she had once done with her armour as the Great Uniter. It only took a few well-aimed shots with her newly made plates and she had also deprived Lin of her second wire weapon. Her next hit was aimed at her raised hand, which had reached out to the nearest pillar and closed around her wrist. She watched with grim glee as Lin was flung queerly across the arena by her restraint.

Kuvira pursued her and before Lin could free herself from the metal piece, she bend three more in her direction, wrapping around her still free wrist and both her feet. Lin revolted, but Kuvira had mastered this very technique to perfection, so that the older woman had no chance. In a few blinks of an eye, she was with her and forced her hands and feet together so that the metal left her no freedom of movement. She raised her right arm in the air, lifted Lin off the floor and slamed her against the wall.

If Kuvira had been inclined to win the fight, she would have encircled Lin's fingers with a metal cuff as well, but she left it at that, knowing that she would break free again in a few seconds.

"There's your fight." For a fraction of a second, the two women stared at each other, breathing heavily. Lin, lips slightly parted, brows drawn together in concentration. Kuvira, one hand on her shoulder to press her against the wall, her gaze fixed on her bright green iris. She ignored the movement of her fingers as Lin peeled the metal from her wrist. Within a heartbeat, Lin's hands were free and Kuvira braced herself for the blow she was about to feel.

Lin bend the small plate around her fist and gave her a fierce hook to the chin that sent her teeth chattering against each other. Black dots exploded before her eyes and she staggered back, falling over one of the chunks of stone and crashing to the ground. She tasted blood and her eyes stared helplessly at the sky, struggling not to lose consciousness. Not a second later she felt a heavy weight around her hands and feet and an oppressively tight collar around her neck. Now it was her who was helpless on the ground.

A shadow obscured her vision and she had to blink a few times before she recognised Lin's face, her fist raised ready to react. Beads of sweat shimmered on her forehead as she knelt over her. The police chief's eyes scrutinised her appraisingly and Kuvira felt strangely defenceless under her gaze, as she had yesterday in her room. Her breathing was shallow, not only because of the metal pressing coldly against her throat, and she licked the blood from her split lip.

Lin eyed her for perhaps a second too long and then seemed to become aware of the sudden closeness between them. As if she had been electrocuted, she withdrew from her and hastily straightened up. With one fluid movement, she bend the metal away from her body and stood up. She gave her a puzzled look, then turned and stomped away.

"You know the way back." she called over her shoulder, leaving Kuvira alone.

The younger woman lowered her head back to the cold ground and remained in her current position. What was that all about?, she asked herself and closed her eyes. Had Lin noticed that she had let her win? Was that why she had looked at her so scrutinisingly. She raised her hands and put them over her face. The headache would definitely not be long in coming after this damper.

She rolled to the side and looked for Lin or another guard but found no one. What the hell was wrong with this woman? First, she refused to leave her side, then she challenged her to a duel and now she just left her like that without supervision.

Her eyes wandered over to the mountains rising behind to where the domes of Zaofu had used to be and she felt an eager tug in the pit of her stomach. The call for freedom echoed behind her brow and for a tiny moment she toyed with the idea of simply standing up and disappearing into the mountains. By the time anyone would notice her escape, she would be up and away.

Kuvira sat up and let her head sink onto her chest. She hadn't worked so hard for her forgiveness to just throw it all away now. There was nothing waiting for her out there that she missed. The only people she had ever cared about, even though she had tried hard to push them away, were here in Zaofu. And they were probably the only people in the whole world who still believed in her. She would not bring herself to betray Su like that again. She could feel with every look she gave her that she wanted her to stay on this road of redemption and if she was honest with herself, she wanted that too.

And then there was this force of nature of a woman called Lin Beifong. Whatever had just transpired between them raised enough questions in her than she could have just walked away. She investigated this strange feeling and discovered to her own amazement that she actually cared what she thought of her. The younger woman could hardly bear Lin to look at her with contempt and deep down she wished she would look at her in a different way. The way she just did when she knelt over her.

"What are you doing?" muttered Kuvira, shaking her head. Before she moved further down the confusing spiral of her own thoughts, she picked herself up and walked back towards the Beifong estate.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh oh, the ladies will probably have a few things to sort out afterwards.


	4. Truth hurts

On her way back to the house, Lin had so many things going through her head at once that she bumped into some people several times. After she had run like a wild Buzzard wasp along the same path to the arena about an hour before, the people on the streets were not responding to her any better. She needed something to distract herself, because the fight had definitely not helped her feel any better, quite the opposite.

She stormed into the house without first knocking the dirt off her clothes and headed straight for her room. Halfway there, however, she turned around, as if she had just remembered that she had forgotten something important. Her steps led her almost automatically into the room where her sister usually received guests and she headed purposefully for the bar. Unlike at official events, no one was standing behind the brightly polished counter, where the finest alcohol from the Earth Kingdom was usually served at social evenings. She opened one of the many glass cabinets and grabbed a glass, a bottle of high-proof liquor and slammed both down on the counter. With still trembling hands, she poured herself a generous gulp of Bourbon and downed the glass in one go. The alcohol burned fiercely in her throat, but she didn't even flinch. Lin wiped her mouth with the back of her hand, still holding the glass, and refilled.

"Isn't it a bit early for that?"

Lin turned, startled, and saw that she was not alone. Korra and Asami were sitting on one of the sofas covered in dark green velvet. The two women looked at her in surprise, Korra with a raised eyebrow.

"So what?" said Lin wanly, sipping her glass less greedily this time. "Do you want one too?" she asked then. She didn't want to take her bad mood out on them, even if she thought they deserved it. After all, it had been Korra who had made this whole mess in the first place.

"Not for me." Korra shook her head and sank back into the cushions.

"I'll have one with pleasure." Lin picked up a second glass and poured the golden-brown liquid into it. At first, she wanted to put the bottle back, but then decided against it. With the glasses in one hand and the Bourbon in the other, she walked over to Asami and handed her the drink.

"Would you like to sit down for a while?" asked Asami politely. Lin wanted to decline. She measured the two women with a disparaging look. Korra seemed less able to hide her confusion at her sudden appearance than her girlfriend. But then she sat down, placed the bottle on the glass table and then leaned back in the armchair. Lin could already feel the effects of the alcohol kicking in and settling heavily on her limbs. Closing her eyes, she pressed the cool glass against her forehead and struggled to put her troubled emotions back behind her hard shell.

"What happened to your head?" Lin then got up the nerve to ask, but with plenty of gruffness in his voice.

"It was just a scratch. I healed it earlier," Korra rebuffed her.

"Where's Kuvira?" Asami took a sip of Bourbon and gracefully crossed her legs. Lin rolled the glass over her temple, hating the smart young woman for so quickly bumping into the very point she was trying to avoid.

"Probably on the way here. At least I hope so." she added, then downed her Bourbon in one swig. 

Korra and Asami glanced uncertainly at each other, the heiress looking considerably more concerned than the Avatar. "Is she still wearing the belt?", Asami then asked.

"I suppose.", Lin answered her, and the CEO of Future Industries looked relieved. She dug out a small black device from a jacket pocket and held it up between two fingers. Asami wiggled it in the air and explained, "When she's out of range for the trigger, I'll be alerted by a beep."

Lin was relieved all at once. Of course, she had thought of Kuvira taking the chance to just make a run for it, but something told her she wouldn't. Perhaps it was because she was too narrow-minded or simply because Kuvira was ... Kuvira. But it had not escaped her what had happened during the fight and that worried her almost more than it reassured her.

Korra now sat back up a little, clearing her throat and drawing her attention again. "What happened after we left anyway?"

Lin was at first inclined to fob her off with one of her usual snappy statements but was sure that sooner or later she would find out what had happened anyway. "I challenged her to a match too," she then said matter-of-factly.

"Wow.", was all Korra could say in reply to her and then had to laugh. "I was actually going to apologise for skipping you in the process, but I guess that's moot." She rubbed her upper arm and seemed to be obviously waiting for her to say more about it. "Who won?"

Lin scowled at her. "Me."

"Then why are you in an even worse mood than usual?" asked Korra straightforwardly.

If Lin had thought the wrinkles on her forehead had already reached maximum depth, she was now proved wrong. Her fingers clung so tightly to the glass that she thought it was bound to give way at any moment.

"Listen!" she barked indignantly and slammed the glass down on the armrest so hard that it got a fine crack.

"What Korra actually wanted to ask," Asami interjected in an emphatic voice before more things could be destroyed. "Is why all this is getting to you?"

Lin curled her upper lip like a Wolfbat ready to bite at any moment. And that was how she felt. The fight with Kuvira had in no way helped the tension to fall away from her, as she usually felt after a friction. She was completely exhilarated and felt constricted by her own armour.

"And I think I can relate very well," Asami said now with more control over her voice. She lowered her gaze to her glass and, with a rotating motion of her wrist, circled the Bourbon in it. "You hold a deep grudge against Kuvira because of what she did. And now you are forced to cooperate, which is understandably very difficult for you. Believe me, I may understand that better than you think." She took another sip, rather just wetting her red-painted lips with the alcohol. "When Korra had to work with her to settle things with Guan, I didn't agree with it any more than you did with this house arrest. I didn't trust her and if I'm honest, I still don't. Why else would I insist on her wearing the belt. She killed my father in cold blood and I was so afraid that she would do the same to Korra as soon as I let her off guard for even a second."

Korra looked at Asami sympathetically and now in turn placed a hand on her thigh. Lin followed the tender gesture and wondered, not for the first time, how Asami managed to tame this impetuous woman in her own unique way.

"It's hard Lin. It's damn hard. And I'm scared. I just got close with my father again and then she took him away from me. You can't imagine how painful that is."

Asami looked up into the crystal chandeliers and blinked hard. Korra now put an arm protectively around her shoulders and leaned her head against her shoulder. "You don't have to talk about it if it's too hard," the Avatar said softly, but Asami only gave her a fleeting kiss on the forehead and then looked back at Lin.

"She held your family captive and almost killed your nephew. It's understandable that you're angry with her Lin. No one blames you for that and least of all me. But I've realised that holding on to that anger and fear doesn't help. Don't get me wrong, I'll be glad when we leave again and Korra is far away from her. After all, she has tried to kill her several times too. But I have managed to forgive my father and he too has done bad things. Still, I'm glad I took that step before I didn't have the chance any more."

Lin felt she had to say something the whole time, but she couldn't find the words to express to Asami anywhere near the sympathy she felt for her. The young woman had suffered far worse losses than she and yet she didn't seem half as angry as Lin herself.

"I can't tell you how to act towards her Lin." It was Korra who addressed her now, for Asami seemed too busy trying to control her quivering chin. "But I have learned that Kuvira is far more complicated than just the pure evil that everyone sees in her. When we were catapulted into the spirit world, I recognised a lot of myself in her. We are the sum of our experiences and Kuvira has had a lot of bad ones. In a way, I can even understand why she did the things she did. I don't mean to excuse any of her actions, because like you, I think she is rightly held accountable for them. Even if she overshoots the mark, she is driven by convictions that are not fundamentally different from ours. It would have been my job to restore balance in the Earth Kingdom, but I was too busy with my own problems. Kuvira has filled the gap I left and in her own way tried to reestablish the balance. That in doing so she exaggerated beyond measure and missed the point where she should have relinquished control, we all know only too well. What I am saying is that she has only had experience of being let down. She needs to experience what it means to have people around her who are there for her, even if she pushes them away, because she does that out of self-protection. I see that she has the will to get better and I don't want to be the one to let her down again in the process."

Lin reached for the bottle and poured herself a refill up to where the crack ended. She stared at the golden drink as if it suddenly contained acid and not a liquid she usually appreciated for its diverse flavours. Korra and Asami both looked at her shyly now, waiting for her to say something, but she just couldn't bring herself to. Like the alcohol, the words of the two women gradually seeped into her brain, giving off a scent that was both comforting and poisonous. She tried to understand that their words were far more complex than her own anger, for it was that which drove her above all.

During the fight, it had not escaped her notice that Kuvira had held back. She was far too experienced a bender to overlook when someone failed to take advantage of a weakness that presented itself. And after all she had seen before from the former Great Uniter, it had admittedly been an extremely weak display of her skills. It had infuriated Lin at first when she noticed her reticence. But what really angered her, and at the same time plunged her into infinitely deep despair, was the fact that such a talented metalbender as Kuvira had made such careless mistakes. Any fool in Republic City's police force would have clasped the hands of a metalbender, but Kuvira had not. She had virtually handed her victory on a silver platter. And once again Lin wondered why.

"She lost on purpose," was all she mumbled in response to what they had said. She just couldn't bring herself to say anything of what was going through her mind at the moment.

"Wait, what?" Korra's eyes snapped open, as if she didn't catch the subject's line so quickly.

"You heard me." Lin put the glass back down without taking a sip. A small drop beaded out of the crack and got lost in the velvet upholstery of her armchair. She had probably poured a little too much in after all.

"That ... Why?" Now the Avatar's expression changed from surprised to thoughtful.

"A peace offering, perhaps?" suggested Asami, and Lin was not as averse to the idea as she had assumed.

"She gave me the full broadside earlier," Korra said, scratching her forehead where the laceration had been before.

"But you're not Lin.", Asami stated matter-of-factly, her gaze now fixed on the police chief again.

Korra pushed her lower lip forward and her blue eyes wandered thoughtfully over the green carpet. "Maybe you should just ask her that yourself." Korra brought out when Lin hadn't answered anything for a while. “She's still part of your family. Can you-”

If Lin thought she had just calmed down a bit, her pulse was now jumping back to maximum. "She is not part of my family!" she said with a raised finger and the rush of her own blood in her ears. "She is not Su's daughter, nor is she my niece or anything like that. Spirits! I wasn't even here when her parents dropped her off at the door! Su should have realised much earlier that something was wrong with her. And most of all, she should have stopped her then from just running off with Baatar Jr. like that, out of the blue!"

"Oh, should I have?"

Lin shuddered so violently when she heard her sister's voice that her glass now completely surrendered. With a bright crack, the jar shattered, cutting into her skin as painfully as Su's voice had cut into her eardrums. She didn't even have to ask how much she had heard, for her expression spoke volumes. Su came rushing towards the three of them with her robe billowing and stopped in front of her with her fists clenched.

"So tell me, how would you have acted in my place? Challenged her to a fight?" Her cheeks had taken on a slightly red hue and Lin could clearly see a vein protruding from her forehead. She had rarely seen her sister so angry.

"Maybe." grunted Lin, feeling increasingly cornered. How had Su found out about this so quickly?

"Of course you would have." Su laughed hollowly. "You know, I'm actually surprised that you're acting like this when you're actually not that different from each other. You both lash out when you feel threatened. And maybe you're even more prickly than usual because you can't handle having a mirror held up to you. Lin damn it, don't you dare blame me for this again! You weren't there, you got that right. So rather than blaming other people, ask yourself what _you_ could have done to prevent it from coming to this!"

Su turned on her heel and left the room as quickly as she had rushed in. Lin watched her go for longer than she could actually see her, suddenly ashamed of what had crossed her lips. Su had been right about what she had said and she knew she would have to apologise to her.

"I don't mean to interfere, but maybe you should go after her," Asami ventured cautiously, but Lin didn't have a scowl left for her after the verbal rebuke.

"But let me heal your hand first," Korra said and, without waiting for her answer, bend a gush of water from one of the carafes that stood on the tables nearby. Lin hesitated, but then finally reached out and let the glowing water do its job. "Leave it, I'll clean it up," Korra said after she had finished, pointing to the shards on the floor. Lin looked at the fine rose lines on the inside of her hand and sighed.

"Thank you." she murmured softly and then quickly left the room. She didn't have to look for Su for long, even if she took more time than necessary to find her way, and eventually found her in her office.

Her sister was standing in front of a painting with her hands clasped behind her back, tapping the floor impatiently with the tip of her foot. "If you're here to keep throwing things at me, you can leave right now."

Lin swayed uncertainly, folded her arms in front of her chest, but then lowered them again because the gesture seemed too defensive to her. "No." she replied curtly, then walked hesitantly towards her sister. "Su, you know it's hard for me ..." She broke off again because the words wouldn't cross her lips. "You're right," she finally said, crossing her arms again.

At first Su just glanced at her over her shoulder, one brow raised, then turned and eyed her sternly. Gradually, however, the harshness drained from her features and Lin was grateful to her for being far less stubborn than she was.

"It is hard for all of us. But it takes a lot more strength to give someone a chance than to turn away from them. We've been able to take a step towards each other, maybe you'll be able to do the same with Kuvira someday." Even though Su's face looked peaceful, she still managed to knock Lin off her balance with her last sentence. "Consider this my last warning."


	5. Kuviras request

As Kuvira walked through the streets of Zaofu back to the Beifong estate, she wished for the first time that she had been accompanied by a guard. She kept her head down but her face was far too familiar here for her to have simply slipped away unnoticed.

"Isn't that Kuvira?" she heard from a tea shop. She dared a quick sideways glance and immediately regretted it. People were craning their necks to get a better look at her, as if she were an attraction in a circus.

"Look there!" A man tugged at the sleeve of his female companion, who had just bent over a selection of teas. "The Great Untier." His voice was full of scorn and at that cue both the tea merchant and his girlfriend looked up.

"Get the hell out of here!" the merchant shouted, drawing the attention of several people at once. As annoying as Lin had been, she had after all been a shield for the ridicule of the people she now faced. None of her beatings earlier in the arena hurt her as much as people's punishing stares.

"In the old days they wouldn't have dared to do that," she whispered and quickened her steps. She covered the last few metres to the entrance at a run without noticing. As soon as she was through the door, she leaned back against the cool stonewall and took a deep breath. She was shaking all over and propped her hands on her knees as if she would throw up at any moment.

She knew that the people here were not well disposed towards her. Basically, no one was well disposed towards her anymore, but to feel the concentrated hatred so clearly hurt more than she had suspected. And that it came from people who had once lived peacefully with her was almost worse than the hatred of complete strangers.

When she heard footsteps, her first impulse was to hide behind one of the pillars, but she restrained herself. She had done nothing wrong, even if it felt that way now. So she pushed herself off the wall and stepped back into the middle of the corridor. To her surprise, it was Korra and Asami who were walking purposefully towards the exit until the black-haired woman's green eyes fell on her. Kuvira paused in place as if her feet had suddenly become fused to the floor, then Korra's attention was drawn to her as well.

"Lin went ahead," was all she could produce, wanting to avoid looking like she had broken one of Su's rules after only two days.

"Yes, we met her," Korra replied. "Don't worry about it." The Avatar gave her a sly smile, but Kuvira didn't get the impression that her well-intentioned request actually made her worry any less. She finally asked Asami for the key that would unlock the belt she still wore and had by now forgotten all about. After Korra relieved her of it, she gestured towards her quarters with a nod of her head. "You should probably go to your room anyway."

Kuvira, who had had nothing else on her mind, walked past Korra without another word, avoiding Asami's gaze. She no longer wore the belt, but her eyes were even harder than usual, the make-up on her lower lid a tiny bit smudged.

Fortunately, she didn't run into anyone else on her way to her accommodation. She had almost expected Lin to intercept her somewhere, but she didn't see a strand of her grey hair. Whether she should consider herself lucky because of that, she couldn't say. It just left a bland taste in her mouth that she couldn't interpret. The only one waiting for her outside her room was a guard, the same one from this morning. He threw a sceptical glance over her shoulder, as if expecting someone else to come, but before he could ask her any questions, she was already pushing past him into her room.

She went first to her wardrobe and to her surprise it had been filled in her absence. Four more sets of what she was currently wearing in varying shades of green, pyjamas, a warm coat and new shoes. Kuvira wondered if they were new clothes or if they were clothes she had worn in the past. Then she saw something else on a hanger that filled her with melancholy. It was a pale tank top, a pair of dark green trousers and a light green scarf. She pulled open one of the drawers and found the white ribbons that went with it. Almost in awe, she felt the fabric between her thumb and forefinger and recognised the roughened fibres in some places. Involuntarily she had to smile when she noticed her old training outfit. She had spent so many shit-filled hours in it, mastering the various dance and bending forms under Suyin's instruction, that she had cursed it more times than she could count.

After she had destroyed Opal's doll's house and Su had found her sulking under a staircase, she had taken her to the training hall for the first time. At the time, she had thought it was ridiculous to use her enormous power for something as absurd as dancing, but Su had insisted. Her punishment, which wasn't really a punishment, had quickly turned into a passion. Dancing had not only helped her to relax, but also to transform her aggressive impulses into perfectly formed and aesthetic channels.

Kuvira put the tapes back in the drawer and closed the wardrobe doors again after taking out something fresh to wear. She placed both on the small cupboard in the bathroom, turned on the tap and got into the shower. With one hand propped up against the wall, she watched the little crumbs of earth disappear down the drain for a while and couldn't bring herself to turn off the hot water again. Too many thoughts ran through her head, unable to finish any of them. When the heat became too uncomfortable, she finally overcame herself and left the bathroom, dried and clothed.

Even though the day had been comparatively exciting, she was now faced with a boredom similar to that of the prison in Republic City. Here she had books to read and could most certainly ask Su for new ones, but she was still locked up. She didn't want to walk around the house, because then the guard would have to accompany her. She was aware that she was neither captain of the guard, nor the Great Uniter, but it would cost her a fair amount of pride, which she had to swallow to bring herself to do so. So for now, she stayed in her room where she was, grabbed a biography of Avatar Kyoshi and stretched out on the bed.

She barely got to the point where the little girl disappeared with the toy from the Air Nomads' Avatar test when she noticed that she had drifted off with her thoughts. Her mind was on what Korra had said to her earlier. She shouldn't worry about Lin, she said, but the woman was her only worry right now. Had she stormed off because she realised Kuvira had lost on purpose? Or was it because of that strange moment when she had knelt completely motionless over her? And much more important was the question of whether it had now worsened the relationship between them. Kuvira thought of her bright irises, the first time she had not looked at her full of malice and disappointment, rather it had almost looked like sincere interest and a stroke of confusion. It didn't add up and it confused her.

Her stream of thought was abruptly interrupted when there was a knock at her door. She hastily sat up from the bed as if she had done something forbidden, then the door was opened without prompting. The security guard placed a tray of food on her table and left without saying a word.

Kuvira squinted over but felt no hunger and left the tablet where it was. When she was agitated, she couldn't bring herself to eat a bite. Earlier, Baatar Jr. had made sure she had a proper meal between all the tasks as the Great Uniter and she had done the same for him. He could spend hours in his study and completely forget about the world around him. His passionate dedication to inventions and technology was no less than hers, and they complemented each other beautifully. Except for the fact that his passion knew limits, unlike hers. Nevertheless, they had had this thing in common and that was what she had loved about him. Had...

Baatar Jr. had been the one with whom she had felt something like love, except for a few petty little loves. She liked his presence because it had not been as unbearable to her as that of most other people. They had got along well because they were two people who understood and respected each other's stubbornness. However, ever since she had seen how Korra and Asami treated each other, how obvious their love for each other was and how protective they were of each other, she had realised that her relationship with Baatar Jr. was purely practical. What the two women were about, sacrificing themselves for each other out of love was clearly far above what she had done. She had wanted to sacrifice Baatar Jr. for herself and her goals, and at that moment at the latest she had realised that her connection to him was not as strong as she assumed. She thought she had loved him, maybe she had deep in her heart, but that was over. Kuvira didn't need to meet him or have a clarifying conversation to accept that fact. The relationship had been irrevocably destroyed. By her. And now she was alone.

She was so caught up in the web of her own thoughts and musings that she didn’t notice how the day had passed her by. Lunch stood untouched and cold right where the guard had left it when her door was pushed open again. This time without a knock.

"Time for dinner." Lin stood in her doorway, one hand on the handle. Kuvira pushed herself out of bed and laid Kyoshi's autobiography on the sheet. She would have plenty of time to read it. Then she went to Lin and held out her hands to have the cuffs put on. Her guard's eyes remained fixed on her, then she pursed her lips and with a nod of her head told her to step out into the corridor.

Surprised, she lowered her arms again and followed the police chief in silence. She felt she had to say something but didn't know what. At first, she wanted to ask her about the fight this morning, but as her expression was as immobile as the metal she was bending, she preferred to keep her mouth shut.

Once in the dining room, she sat down in the same place as last night and Lin took her seat next to hers again. Everyone else was already present and the chef was just handing out the plates, but even now she didn't feel any great hunger. She merely sipped from her glass and managed to shove two bites into her mouth but left the rest untouched.

Su was talking across the tables with Asami and how the rebuilding of Republic City had progressed so far. Kuvira's stomach almost turned, but she still listened with half an ear as the CEO of Future Industries reported on the construction of new accommodations. Korra peppered the stories here and there with something about a certain Tokuga and how his appearance had delayed the construction. Obviously, Republic City had already turned to new enemies, she thought bitterly, staring at her plate again.

"You haven't touched your lunch." Lin pointed to her cold food with her fork. "Eat."

Kuvira looked at her out of the corner of her eye, wanting to tell her she wasn't hungry. This time it wasn't even a lie. But she persuaded herself to eat at least half of her food. After all, she just wanted to get back to her room without any unnecessary discussion.

As the plates were cleared and dessert served, Lin surprised her for the second time that evening by not asking her to leave. Automatically her eyes slid over to Su and she wondered if she had spoken to Lin. The matriarch gave her a barely noticeable smile between the bites of her sweet mango rice, but remained focused on the conversation.

"May I have a word with Su?", Kuvira turned to Lin as the dessert was cleared and the younger members of the Beifong Clan were already leaving the hall. Lin just shrugged and made a throwing away gesture with her hand. Kuvira remained seated for a second longer than necessary, then rose and her chair scraped across the floor so loudly that Su inevitably looked over at her.

She walked with quick steps towards the end of the table where Baatar Sr. had just turned to go and stopped in front of her table. Even though it was just a silly piece of furniture, the table still gave her some sense of security as she cleared her throat now.

"Kuvira." Su said in a friendly voice. "Didn't you like the food? You barely touched it." she noted with concern.

"Yes, I did, but I want to ask you something."

"Go ahead."

Kuvira took one deep breath, then recited her request. "I know that my arrest is primarily confined to the house." Su nodded at each of her words. "I still wanted to ask if you would allow me to resume dancing."

Now Su settled back in her chair and put her fingertips together. She seemed to be considering whether it was a good idea, and before she could shoot down her request, Kuvira added, "Under supervision, of course, and when no one else is in the hall."

A fine smile curled her foster mother's lips and quickly became a grin. "I think that's fine. There should be no one in the hall tomorrow morning. I'll arrange for you to be taken there and have an hour to yourself. Provided you don't cause any trouble and don't betray my trust," she trailed off and Kuvira nodded silently.

"Thank you." she murmured and then with a small bow went back to Lin who was already waiting for her at the exit.

The next morning Kuvira was already waiting impatiently to finally be picked up. She was wearing her old training clothes and felt indescribably comfortable in them. Her whole body seemed to vibrate with anticipation and she wondered how much she had missed this form of exercise.

When the knock on the door came, she was already ready, the tapes neatly wound up in her hand. Once again it was not Lin who was waiting for her, but a female guard whom she knew from before. She murmured a soft "Good morning" and hoped that the shameless anticipation could not be seen on her face, after all she had practised for years to hide all her emotions. The walk to the hall didn't take long and except for the few residents of Zaofu who were out so early, they were accompanied only by chirping birds.

"You have one hour. I'll wait here." her guard declared, taking up position beside the entrance. She didn't have to tell her that it was the only exit, and she didn't have to tell her that an extra patrol had probably been assigned to keep an eye on the training hall at this early hour. None of that mattered much to her at that moment as she sucked in the familiar scent of sweat, metal and rubber mats. Faint rays of light filtered through the high windows and she could see the dust motes floating in the air like falling leaves. Zaofu's emblem gleamed silver at the back of the hall, standing out brightly against the dark metal ropes hanging down from the ceiling. In the centre of the room, still resting on a pedestal, was a large amount of metal that had been formed into something like a water fountain.

Kuvira took off her shoes and placed them scrupulously parallel to each other against the wall and sat down on a stool. She unrolled the tapes and began to meticulously wrap them around her arms and legs, checking them again and again for a tight fit. The tapes were mainly to prevent her from tearing her skin on the rough ropes when she slid down or tangled her feet with them.

As soon as she was done with that, she began to warm up with simple bending forms. To do this, she made part of the metal formation float over to her, bending it so that it never stayed in a truly solid shape. She felt more like a waterbender herself, for even her supple movements looked more like a dance and less like the hard forms of earthbending. Light-footed, she jumped from one leg to the other, performed turns and twisted the metal around her as if it were no more than a light ribbon that she pulled behind her on a stick. Kuvira assumed deep poses, jumped high in the air and stretched her muscles until she could do no more. In her head she played a melody of the Tsungi horn, to whose heavy and sad sounds she moved as if she were performing a drama. It didn't take long for her to shake off her worries and fears and enjoy the light-heartedness that dancing gave her for the hour she had been given.

When she was done with her warm-up exercises, she seamlessly added the metal back into the fountain as if it had never been removed. Then she took a few steps back to take a running start and pushed off at full speed. With dreamlike certainty she grabbed one of the ropes and bend it upwards in a high arc. Kuvira almost let out a joyful sigh as she flew through the air. The first time in years that her bending was not used for defence or attack.

She focused and bent each of the ropes so that they formed a spiral leading downwards. With firm and sure steps, she ran down and as soon as she reached the lowest point she let herself be thrown back into the air like a doll from it. She somersaulted several times and repeated the procedure until her gaze caught on something grey standing near the door. This jolted her out of her trance so violently that she missed the right moment when she came up, slipped, and hit the floor.

For a terribly long moment, she lost her breath and rolled onto her back. What could she expect with a fall from a height of almost five metres? She heard footsteps but couldn't turn her head because she was too busy gasping for breath.

"Did you hurt yourself?" Lin's face loomed over her and if she hadn't been barely able to breathe, she would surely have laughed out loud at the irony. The police chief grabbed her forearms and pulled her into a sitting position. Then she pulled her arms above her head and almost instantly more air rushed into Kuvira's lungs.

The young woman eyed Lin, uncertainly studying the concern in her expression. Yesterday she had been throwing stones and metal pillars at her and now she was asking her if she was all right.

"Why so worried all of a sudden?" she brought out between two struggeling breaths.

Lin narrowed her eyes to slits and instantly let go off her. Kuvira kept her arms a little longer above her head, for it helped her to keep her quivering breaths under control. She felt like a criminal sitting with her hands up in front of the police chief. How sickeningly accurate that image was.

"I'm not worried," Lin said quickly. "But if anything happens to you on my watch, I will be held responsible for that." She shrugged as if she didn't care and then demonstratively turned her back to look up at the ropes.

"It didn't bother you yesterday." Kuvira lowered her arms now and rubbed her damaged ribs.

Lin gave her a disapproving look and then made sure that the ropes hung straight down again and did not remain in their spiral shape. Then she stopped in front of her and after Kuvira had made two failed attempts to get up herself, Lin grabbed her by the arm and helped her back over to the stool. With a groan she settled down on it and wondered how long Lin had been standing there watching her.

Kuvira had not paid attention to what had been going on around her, that she had assumed she was alone. And yet it surprised her that Lin had appeared. She doubted that her hour was up because the sun's rays were not slanting enough for that. And she had also expected her guard from earlier to pick her up again.

"You've lost yesterday," Lin broke the silence as she unwrapped her ribbons from her arms.

"I know, I was there," Kuvira replied, but did not look her in the face.

"On purpose.", Lin now added and Kuvira's neck stiffened noticeably. She had noticed after all.

"I wasn't paying close enough attention," she tried to end the subject.

"Oh, come on." There was amusement and a hint of bitterness in Lin's tone now. "You don't mean to tell me that the woman who almost brought down the Avatar just forgets the basics of bending." To emphasise her point, she held up her hands, but Kuvira didn't look.

"I was weakened from the fight before. I was just careless." she said, barely moving her lips.

Lin grabbed her hand and made her stop moving. "And now the truth."

Kuvira's eyes almost sparked as she looked at Lin. Then she snatched her arm from her and shot up regardless of the pain in her back. "You want the truth? Fine! People hate me Lin! Here! In Republic City! Basically, the whole world! And if I must lose and surrender so that for once I'm not looked at with disgust and contempt, then it's worth it to me. So don't judge me for not giving you a fair fight!"

Kuvira was seething. Not because she was angry at Lin's behaviour, but because she was angry at herself and at the honesty of her words. She wanted to turn away, storm off, vent her anger, but Lin's hand closed around hers, this time much more gently.


	6. Poor Duty

Lin stared at her hand as if it had moved on its own. Her instinct told her to let go, but when she noticed that Kuvira didn’t shake her off, she continued to hold her.

Su's words suddenly reappeared in her mind. "And maybe you're even more prickly than usual because you can't handle having a mirror held up to you."

Lin looked at Kuvira's back, her shoulders shaking with self-loathing, and at the same time sensed her own façade crack a little. It almost felt as if she was seeing a younger version of herself standing in front of her. Lin had also turned her back on her family after not becoming what her mother had wanted her to be and the argument with her sister. She had toiled and slaved to get the recognition she so desired, but never received.

"Bullshit." Lin tugged on her hand, making her look at her. Where Kuvira's features had been contorted with anger a moment ago, they were spiralling out of control and she could see a hint of fear. Lin knew all too well how it felt for someone like her to reveal her feelings. She was no different herself. "There are other ways to make people hate you less."

Kuvira's lower lid twitched and her beauty mark bounced up and down slightly. Then she wrestled her hand away from her and wrapped her arms around her shoulders. "How would you know?" she said irritably. She seemed less frightening now that Lin had seen her fear, which was far too human after all.

"If you'd stop pushing people away and start caring about someone other than yourself for a second, maybe you'd realise that yourself," Lin said calmly, but that only seemed to fuel Kuvira's anger.

"All I did was worry about others! About a whole damn nation! And what was the thanks I got?" Kuvira's eyebrows almost formed a straight line now, so tense was she. She took a rushed step towards Lin so that only a hand's width separated them. "A life in chains." she said, her voice dripping with contempt.

"You brought this on yourself." Lin jabbed her index finger against her chest. "You just don't know where your limits are." She tapped her repeatedly against the chest, a little harder with each word. Lin wanted to provoke her because she wanted her to understand what she meant. She wanted to challenge her just as she had in the arena and she could literally see Kuvira's jaw tighten. And she had judged the younger woman completely correctly. The heel of her hand shot up and tried to push her arm away, but instead Lin just jerked back wearily. She grabbed her wrist and in one fluid motion, twisted it behind her back and pushed her against the wall.

Kuvira made a surprised sound and revolted against her, but Lin's fingers closed ironically around her forearm. She pressed her own body against her back, preventing her from breaking free. Although she had practised and trained this move and had used it on countless criminals, it now seemed new and unfamiliar to her. She felt Kuvira's body trying to free itself from her grip and smelled the scent of her bathing water. Her thoughts stumbled over these new impressions and then gruffly pushed them aside. Lin brought her lips to her ear and could feel Kuvira pause. "Maybe you just need someone to show you your limits."

Lin brushed her earlobe with her lips. It was only a hint of a touch and yet she felt Kuvira tilt her head in her direction, barely perceptible. Her stomach gave a twinge when she noticed the small gesture and she now felt abundantly clear where her pelvis touched her rump. The younger woman no longer resisted and Lin, to her own surprise, sensed a deep satisfaction at this. Kuvira could have freed herself with metalbending and yet she did not. She remained motionless, the only movement being her heavy breaths.

With a crushing finality she heard the door handle being pushed down and Lin became aware of her situation. She jumped back from Kuvira and not a moment later the guard entered. Her heart was hammering in her chest and adrenaline flooded her veins. She tried not to let show, but the guard woman eyed them both critically.

"Did she cause any trouble?" she finally asked, and Lin was relieved that she hadn't noticed anything about how close they had just been. So Lin put on her usual sullen expression and put her hands on her hips.

"No.", Lin answered her curtly and then looked over at Kuvira, who was rubbing her forearm where she had been holding her. Her cheeks, however, looked a little flushed. "You can take her back." For a moment Lin feared Kuvira would say something that would put her in an unglamorous situation, but she did not. She avoided her gaze, slipped on her shoes and let the guard escort her out of the hall.

Lin released a breath she didn’t know she was holding. What had gotten into her? She had repelled Kuvira's attack and defended herself. Anything beyond that had been absolutely superfluous and, what's more, encroaching. But it was difficult for her to escape the pull that Kuvira was exerting. First this moment in the arena and now this. The young woman awakened a desire in her that was completely new to her. On the one hand she felt a deep aversion for her and yet there was this pleading in her gaze. This silent desire that she didn't quite know how to interpret. Still, it was definitely not something she should pursue. She was, after all, Chief Lin Beifong and she was Kuvira, the former Great Uniter.

Lin left the hall and, with the slamming of the door, also tried to lock her troubled thoughts inside, but she didn't quite succeed. To calm down a little, she took a small diversion to get back to the house, not least to avoid meeting Kuvira again for the time being. She walked around the hall and found three guards, one of them leaning casually against the back wall. They were chatting amusingly and only one of the three men wore a helmet.

The chief closed her eyes, collected herself and then roared. "How dare you loiter here?"

The three guards cringed and one of the helmets banged on the floor with a tinny sound. The man quickly bent down and picked it up, almost letting it slip from his hands again.

"Chief Beifong." stammered the one who was the only one still wearing his helmet about to launch into an explanation, but there she was already with them.

"You have been assigned as an extra patrol to guard the hall! Kuvira is a maximum-security prisoner and you bozos are just standing here having a jolly chat?" She slammed her fist against the wall and fixed the man who had been leaning against it a moment ago. "This wall will stand without your help! And if I catch you neglecting your duties again, I'll see to it most personally that you spend the next year on cleaning duty!"

The three men looked at her as if they were going to shit their pants at any moment. One gulped audibly and she saw his Adam's apple bounce up and down. Then they clicked their heels together and hastily walked off.

Lin stared after the three of them until she could no longer see them and then directed her steps towards the house.

"Su?" she yelled as soon as she entered the entrance hall. "Suyin!" She didn't have the nerve to look for her and it wasn't long before Baatar Sr. poked his head out of one of the back rooms.

"She's busy right now. Can I maybe help you?" He pushed up his glasses with his fingers and ran them through his messy hair. Lin covered the few metres to him in seconds and recognised Baatar Jr. behind him. The two of them must have been working on something, because his studyroom was covered all over with blueprints.

"Your guards are doing a poor job! I just caught them loitering while they were supposed to be guarding the hall."

Baatar Jr. looked over at her, but immediately lowered his eyes again when she starred at him with a wrinkled nose.

"Yes, we've had that problem for a while," her brother-in-law sighed.

"What do you mean?", Lin snapped at him.

He rubbed his mottled grey temples and invited her in, which she declined. "After most of our guards left with Kuvira, we hired some earthbenders to fill the gaps in our ranks after the fall of the Earth Empire. And have already noticed, however, that they are nowhere near as diligent in their duties as they should be."

"Then throw them out and hire people to do the job properly!" grunted Lin.

"It's harder than you think to find capable people for the job." He tugged at his metal collar as if highly embarrassed by the situation. "Since people have known that Kuvira is here, hardly anyone comes forward for the post. They don't feel comfortable with the idea."

Lin frowned. "What nonsense!" she burst out. "Why didn't Su tell me about this?"

"I think she wanted to avoid you worrying unnecessarily," Baatar Sr. suggested, that didn't help Lin take it less seriously in the slightest.

"Unnecessarily? This is a problem! And it should be fixed as soon as possible and consistently! How can she offer Kuvira’s house arrest here if the security is not in place?"

"We have already sent requests to the surrounding regions and asked them to send us additional guards, but they are facing certain difficulties."

"Then put in a request to the forces of Republic City. Surely that can't be so difficult?"

"As a matter of fact, it is. Most areas are still adjusting to the restructuring and need their own capacity to do so. There are still scattered supporters of the Earth Empire in the kingdom and the transition to a democracy is not met with approval everywhere." Baatar Sr. gave a contrite impression.

"A solution has to be found for this. I can't go back to Republic City if the guards don't do their duty properly." Lin now moderated her tone, even though she didn't feel like it at all. "Please tell Suyin that we need to arrange a meeting to discuss this. And the Avatar and President Moon should be involved if possible."

With that, she left him standing and rushed off.


	7. The temptation of closed doors

Kuvira sat quietly and silently at dinner, as she did every time. She listened half-heartedly to the others' conversations and only looked up from her plate when she absolutely had to. That evening, Wing and Wei dominated the communication, as they were planning a Power disc tournament on one of the next days, Kuvira had already forgotten which day. She knew the game and had often watched the twins play it during her patrols, but she had never played it herself.

"Come on Korra! This is going to be great!" Wing thundered a fist on the tabletop, making the dishes jingle.

"Maybe I'd better play the referee as the Avatar," the young woman objected, but her look showed much more drive than her emphatically indifferent attitude.

"You can't let your defeat last time stand, can you?", Wei tried to draw her out and Kuvira could see the corners of her mouth twitching from her side of the room.

"That wasn't fair!" Korra now raised a finger and wiggled it. "I had just learned metalbending then."

Asami, sitting beside her with graceful poise as ever, placed a hand on her thigh. "I'm happy to referee in your place. Maybe as a non-bender I'll have a more unbiased eye. Besides, I bet those two together wouldn't stand the slightest chance against you." She giggled, achieving the desired effect on the twins.

"No way. She can't do the two of us together. We're Toph's grandchildren, after all." The twins winked at each other.

"Perhaps Kuvira should attend." Su's statement caused everyone in the room to become instantly silent. Her hand closed automatically around the tabletop and she forced herself not to make a face. She almost wished Lin would answer for her and explain to everyone present what an absolutely stupid idea this was, but the seat next to her was empty. Since she had left the training hall this morning, she had not seen her again. The chief had not picked her up for dinner, nor was she present. Without meaning to, it caused her some unease.

"No, thank you." she replied curtly, watching her knuckles grow whiter by the second.

"But why not? We would double the guards ... maybe triple them and then-", Su raised, but Kuvira would not even let her finish.

"No, thank you." she only repeated, a little more forcefully now. She looked up at Su for a moment, recognising a strangely pained expression on her face. She was almost sorry to dismiss her efforts, but after her experience yesterday on the streets of Zaofu, she didn't have the nerve to be the butt of the crowd's ridicule again. Therefore, she tightened her shoulders and forced herself to stop lowering her eyes like a small child. "I appreciate the effort, but I don't think it would be…” she struggled to speak the word, “ _pleasant_ for the general public if I were to participate."

Kuvira saw that Suyin was already searching for words to change her mind, but she relented when Baatar Sr. patted her arm. "It's her decision." he said quietly, but just loud enough for everyone to hear him.

Grateful for his intervention, she nodded to him again and then returned her attention to the dessert that had just been cleared. Even though Lin was not there, Kuvira waited until most of the others had left the dining room and remained seated until one of her guards appeared at the door to take her back to her room. But even when Huan was the last to leave the room, still no one appeared to take her away. Kuvira waited another five minutes, for she did not want to do anything that went against her conditions, but then she rose, for she did not want to sit here all night.

Cautiously, she went to the corridor and peered in both directions, but there was no guard to be seen here either. She began to suspect that Suyin was testing her, but her announcement when she arrived had been all too clear. She was allowed to move around the house, but only under supervision. So she decided it was best to head back to her room, but something held her back. She heard voices coming from one of the adjoining rooms and she couldn't help but stop when she heard Lin's voice. She remained beside one of the tall vases and leaned against the wall as she listened to the muffled voices.

"This is irresponsible Su!" Lin sounded sour as usual, but the emphasis in her voice suggested she was angry.

"We have the situation under control," the matriarch replied.

"I don't see it that way at all. If you cannot fix this problem by the time I leave, then I will be forced to take her back!" Something in the room rattled and Kuvira guessed that Lin had banged her fist against something.

Then she heard a finer and quieter voice. "Su, you know I deeply respect you and I was in favour of this, but I'm afraid I have to agree with Lin on this one." Kuvira wasn't sure who had just spoken and quietly pulled a shoe off her foot. Closing her eyes, she lifted the foot and placed it on the floor as quietly as she could. In concentric circles, her seismic vision spread out over the surroundings and finally reached the five people standing behind the door. Besides Su and Lin, there were Baatar Sr, Korra and Asami. The latter must have spoken just now.

"If she has to go back to Republic City, then she will be taken back to the maximum-security prison and I want to avoid that," Su now explained, and at the thought of her old cell Kuvira drew her brows together in annoyance.

"Your guards are poorly trained. If she wanted to, then she could easily escape." Kuvira didn't even have to use her earthbending to realise that the chief was now pacing the room.

"If she wanted to," Su repeated. "But she doesn't."

"Oh please Su!" she heard Lin again.

Now another voice interfered. "I understand both your concerns, but I don't think it's necessary to worry unduly. Kuvira has so far complied with all the conditions of her house arrest and has done nothing to contradict it. And I'm sure the matter of the guards can be sorted out." Fully in her role as Avatar, Korra tried to relax the situation, but Kuvira's thoughts were already drifting.

She had already noticed that some of the guards were new and were doing their jobs sloppily. It didn't even take her trained eye as a former captain of the guard. And the fact that she could now roam the house alone put the chapeau on top of it all. No one was with her. It was dark outside. If there had ever been a time for her to escape, it would be now. Her eyes wandered towards the entrance hall. No one would stop her now if she walked out. And no one would notice she was gone. By the time anyone noticed, she would be long gone. But she doubted she could hide for long. Eventually she would be found and then she would be taken back to that hated cell in Republic City. Nothing was further from her mind.

"The domes aren't even fixed yet!", Lin's voice drew her attention again. "You don't have guards to do the job properly, nor do you have the means to seal off the city overnight. I demand that you request additional guards from President Moon. Otherwise, I will be forced to take Kuvira back to Republic City."

A shiver ran down her spine. She had thought for a very brief moment that Lin might have relented a little, but apparently, she still seemed to distrust her as much as before.

"Actually, extra guards are not such a bad idea. It would compensate for the less capable guards, at least for now," Korra suggested and Kuvira could hear an approving snort from Lin.

"If we make the suggestion to President Moon, she will order Kuvira back immediately." Now she could hear Baatar Sr. among the female voices.

"Which would be appropriate." That was Lin again.

There was a small pause in which no one seemed to know quite what to say or do. Then Suyin took the floor again. "I've hardly ever asked you for anything Lin, but please, give it a little time. I just want to give Kuvira a chance to reintegrate into the family. I worry about her because she seems so lonely." The words came much quietly through the closed door and Kuvira had to lean forward a little to hear them better. What she heard stirred something deep inside her and for a moment she was too spellbound by what she heard that she forgot the vase was still in her path. With infinite slowness the vase tilted forward and she saw too late that it was going to topple over. She reached out another hand for it, but she could not prevent it from falling to the floor. With a clang, the clay jar broke and to make matters worse, the earth scattered on the carpet outside the room.

For a horribly long second, she weighed fixing the vase with earthbending or turning on her heel and sprinting to her room, but she hesitated too long. The door to the room flew open and Lin burst into the hallway. Her eyes first fixed on her standing there with her shoulders hunched and then she looked in vain for one of her guards. 

"I didn't mean to...", Kuvira lifted, but the words stuck in her throat.

Lin's jaw ground and her cheeks twitched with anger. "Where is your guard?" she barked.

"No one came to pick me up after dinner," she explained hastily, already making up an excuse in her head as to why she had been listening here at the door. She expected an outburst from Lin, but her nostrils flared like a firebender just gathering all its breath.

"Room! Now!" Kuvira could tell it was taking all her effort not to yell at her. She wanted to say something, to protest her innocence, but before she could get anything done her feet reacted for her and carried her hastily back to her door. There, in turn, stood a guard and he looked at her, completely perplexed. From his derailed features, she guessed that he had assumed she was already in her room. She stormed past him and slammed the door behind her.

Normally this room had a calming effect on her, but now she felt more agitated than ever. So many things were going through her mind that made her pace up and down the small room. Six steps to one wall and six steps to the other. Over and over again.

Zaofu's guards were not doing their job properly. Six steps. The domes were still not restored. Six steps. If Lin was not satisfied with the security, then she had to go back to Republic City. Six steps. If Lin told the others that she had been walking around without a guard, then Su might forbid her to continue using the training hall. Twelve steps. Lin knew she had been eavesdropping, and possibly she could guess that she had learned about the many security breaches. Twenty-four steps. Lin would yell at her and cuff her again wherever she went. Thirty-six steps. Lin would be terribly angry with her. Forty-two steps.

Then she stopped abruptly as she realised that all her worries were about Lin. It was not her fault that none of the guards had picked her up and yet it felt that way. Of course she shouldn't have eavesdropped, but it had been too tempting. But what bothered her even more, was herself. She was the Great Uniter. She was Kuvira. Strong and unbending. But Lin managed to make her feel small and helpless.

"Argh!" Kuvira ruffled her hair as she thought about this morning. She dropped onto the bed and pressed the heels of her hands into her forehead. What was that all about? She had allowed herself to be provoked, even though she had vowed to keep a tighter rein on herself. Any misstep could cost her privileges and she wanted to avoid that. And yet her thoughts wandered back to the time when Lin had grabbed her and pushed her against the wall. She felt her fingers still where they had clung around her forearm and her lips against her ear. A shiver ran down her spine like a thousand spider legs, making her starting pacing up and down again.

She counted two hundred and thirty-seven steps before her door handle was pushed down. Kuvira's back was to the door, but she didn't even have to turn around to know it was Lin. Her tight stride had already given her away.

"Sit down." It was indeed Lin and she sounded normal.

Kuvira hesitated, clenched her fists, but then sat down on the edge of her bed, causing the perfectly trimmed sheet to slip. The calm tone of her chaperone unsettled her.

Lin closed the door, walked over to her table and placed something on it. Then she took the chair, placed it in front of the table and sat on it with her legs crossed. Kuvira stared at the carpet in front of her, looking at the fringe as she waited for Lin to yell at her. But all she heard were her fingers drumming incessantly on her thigh.

"Go on.", Kuvira urged her, her swelling insecurity gradually turning back into anger.

But Lin did not answer her. Her fingers continued to drum on her leg and Kuvira only now noticed that she was no longer wearing her armour.

"Yell at me or tell me how disappointed you are in me. That's why you're here, isn't it?" she groaned out between clenched teeth, but Lin was still silent. Instead, she reached for what she had placed on the table.

"Here." Kuvira looked up for the first time and now saw Lin holding out a filled glass to her. In it was a brownish liquid that gave off the strong aroma of whisky.

"What?" Kuvira's eyes moved back and forth between the glass in Lin's hand and her face.

"If you don't want it, fine." She withdrew her hand again, but that was when Kuvira reached for it. Still, she continued to stare uncertainly at the content of the glass, as if Lin had given her acid.

"What is this about?" she asked sceptically. She was confused because she had actually expected Lin to shout at her and reprimand her. Instead, she sat here calmly, eyeing her with her bright green eyes.

Lin stretched extensively and rubbed the back of her neck as if she had had an awfully long day. Then she took the other glass and sipped from it. The corners of her mouth curled up slightly, as if she had been waiting all day for this sip.

"What have you heard?" the older woman finally asked, leaning back in the chair. Even though she was now less quick to react to an attack on her part, the pose still radiated superiority.

"Not much." she replied slowly but could tell from Lin's raised eyebrows that this explanation was not enough for her.

"You don't have to take me for a fool. Far too many have tried that before you. I know you've heard things that weren't meant for your ears," the police chief explained, emphatically nonchalant.

Kuvira stared at the glass again, as if Lin had put some drug in it. "Is this supposed to be a good cop bad cop act?" she then asked more aggressively than she had intended.

"You're a grown woman and I want to give you a chance to be honest." She took another sip and looked at her over the rim of her glass. As she downed it, she licked her lips.

She was tempted to respond with another question in return, but she thought better of it. Lin hadn't yelled at her as expected and was even nice by her standards, although she had every understandable reason to handcuff her and chain her to her bed. With that thought, she took a sip of the whisky after all and washed down the inappropriate scene in her head.

"I have heard that the guards are not doing their duty properly and there are still problems with the repair of the domes." She rubbed a hand over her thigh, smoothing out the wrinkles thrown by the fabric of her trousers. "And that you would prefer to see me back in maximum-security."

"That's correct." said Lin after a brief pause, setting her glass down on her knee and holding it by the rim with her fingertips.

"I could have run away when no one picked me up after dinner," she then said in a brash advance.

"I know."

"And I didn't."

"Obviously."

Kuvira frowned. What did this woman want her to say? "I'm still here."

"I can see that." Lin didn't make a face.

"What are you doing?" asked Kuvira again. She could feel her anger boiling up inside her at the ridiculousness of this situation. "I have done nothing wrong and yet you interrogate me like a criminal."

Lin's lower lid twitched a little. "Which you are." She twirled her glass with her fingertips, her gaze still fixed on her. "And you were listening at a door you had no business listening at."

"Oh please!" She stood up again and began pacing the room. She had to vent her anger, otherwise she feared doing something stupid.

"Sit back down." Lin ordered in a calm tone.

"No.", she replied gruffly. Six steps to one wall, six steps to the other. "You're making me angry." she finally insisted, avoiding her gaze. Suddenly Lin had to laugh and Kuvira stopped rooted to the spot. Her shoulders stiffened noticeably.

"If that's enough to make you angry, then you have a bigger problem than Su thought." Lin drained the remaining contents of her glass in one go, then set it down on the table beside her.

"I don't like it when people imply things about me."

"The way I see it, you just can't handle the consequences of your actions."

Kuvira now looked her straight in the eye. Lin looked at her with amusement and she wished very much to be in this room with her under different circumstances. She was hyper-aware of all the metal objects around her and it took her a lot of effort not to use her bending.

"It must be so hard for you to accept that you can no longer march around treating the people around you like shit." Lin leaned forward now, wide-legged, and propped her elbows on her thighs.

"I've never treated anyone like shit," she snapped at her, immediately biting her lip.

"We both know that's a lie." Again, Lin had to laugh and Kuvira could no longer contain her anger. If she was not allowed to bend, she could at least vent her anger in another way. She lashed out and threw the glass at the wall closest to Lin, but the police chief didn't even bat an eyelid. "Sit back down and stop making these ridiculous threatening gestures."

Kuvira felt almost instantly sorry for losing control, but she was too proud to admit it to herself. She should have apologised, should have sat down, but she didn't. Instead, she just crossed her arms in front of her chest and shifted her weight from one leg to the other.

"I won't say it again." Now Lin's voice was more threatening.

"Or what?" She raised an eyebrow. All the alarms were screaming inside her and the last bit of common sense told her she had better listen to Lin, but she couldn't bring herself to do it. This woman was provoking her. "Are you going to throw me back into that awful cell in Republic City? Because the way it looks to me, it doesn't matter what I do or how I act. You'll find a reason one way or another." Kuvira pressed her arms to her torso to keep her from punching anything.

"Then convince me otherwise."

Kuvira narrowed her eyes to slits. "What do you mean?" Her heart was now pounding uncomfortably in her chest and she didn't know how to classify it. When Lin stood up and walked towards her, it didn't make it any better.

"I don't think I've made myself clear."

Instinctively Kuvira backed away, but she slammed her shoulders into the wall behind her. She swallowed hard as Lin stopped in front of her.

"What are you doing?" she asked shortly. Lin was so close to her now that she could see the unevenness of her scars in her skin.

"You didn't fight me in the hall," the older woman stated matter-of-factly.

Kuvira swallowed about six times in ten seconds and now she wished she had back the rest of the whisky she had just hurled against the wall.

"So what?" she said, trying to sound more confident than she felt. She could smell Lin's breath, which smelled faintly of whisky and settled heavily on her lips.

"You don't now either." The older woman raised an eyebrow almost in amusement. "What is that supposed to tell me?"

Kuvira lowered her arms and pressed her palms against the wall behind her. She tried to steady herself by doing so, for her thoughts now flowed as viscously as honey.

Lin raised an arm and her fingertips paused millimetres from her cheek. Kuvira bit her lower lip and felt herself transported back to the hall with a thud. A sparse urge within her commanded her to swat the older woman's hand away. To push her away, but she did not. She was unable to react or do anything but stare into the bright green irises.

"Do you want me to leave?" asked Lin, her hand still raised in the air.

Kuvira chewed the inside of her lip and swallowed hard again. She wanted to say yes. She wanted to tell her to go away, but she couldn't move an inch, too eager for the unknown.

"Do you want me to sit back down?" Lin eyed her waiting, almost lurking.

Kuvira smelled the whisky on her breath again. No, she didn't want her to leave, nor did she want her to sit down again. And Lin asking her a question for the first time and considering her needs gave her a strangely inappropriate feeling of superiority, even if it didn't seem like it at the moment. So she shook her head cautiously. A satisfied smile crept onto Lin's lips. She placed the tip of her index finger against her cheek and let it trail along her jaw until she placed it under her chin. The touch literally sent sparks across Kuvira's skin. Then the finger travelled down her throat and she held her breath, afraid Lin would stop if she moved too much. The older woman's gaze followed her own hand and she stared where it paused at the level of her collarbone.

"It seems to me there may very well be a way to keep you in check." Lin placed her free hand beside her on the wall and leaned forward a little more. Her hot breath now brushed her neck and Kuvira faltered. What was happening here was not right.

"Lin..." she stammered, but she didn't know what to say. She didn't even know what to think.

"Do you want me to stop?" the woman asked cautiously now, her head close to her neck. Kuvira feared that she would see her violent pulse on her carotid arteries.

How many times had she experienced such a moment with Baatar Jr. and not felt nearly as much excitement about it as she did at that very moment? It was wrong and yet she didn't want Lin to stop. The tingling in the pit of her stomach forbade it. She shook her head, barely perceptible.

"Then what do you want?" Lin's voice was now little more than a hint of a sound.

Kuvira pressed her palms even harder against the wall, causing her whole body to tense. She did not want to answer this question, even though her body urged her to. She opened and closed her mouth several times, but she had already allowed Lin to touch her. And she had done so in a way that sent hot waves through her body like nothing she had ever experienced before.

The morning returned all too clearly to her thoughts and the statement Lin had made now forced itself with all its might between her thoughts. Now it was her body that answered her question. "I want you to show me my limits."

Kuvira bit her lower lip as the words were out. Blushes of shame rose to her face as she understood the finality of that statement and the consequences that came with it. But this time she was only too willing to bear them.

Out of the corner of her eye she saw Lin smile contentedly, then her hand travelled back up her neck and closed around her throat. The pressure was not strong enough to prevent her from breathing, but it made her feel clearly that she was no longer in control. Quivering, she sucked in the air through her nose as Lin pressed her lips against her throat. Kuvira had to pull herself together not to make a sound as the older woman pressed a kiss into the hollow between her ear and jaw, her head threatening to burst with heat.

"There you see." Lin's thumb stroked her jawline and now her face reappeared directly in front of her. "There are other ways. We can work on that."

She gave her one last look, then reached past her and was out the door.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't know if that was too premature, but I think you get a taste of where it's going.


	8. Sleepless night

Lin stood in the garden of her sister's house and watched the sun's rays slowly climb the mountain slopes. The golden fingers were already reaching out longingly to the still sleeping inhabitants of Zaofu and it wouldn't be long before she was no longer alone out here. The cool morning air made her shiver, but she welcomed the goosebumps on her body. Lin had been standing here for hours, having given up tossing and turning in bed to get some sleep. She had made herself some tea, hoping it would give her a little relief, but that hadn't helped either. The hot drink now stood cold on a table beside her and had stopped steaming hours ago.

In her hands she held one of the many chunks of meteorite that Su had so carefully draped and scattered on pedestals in her garden. Lin had tried several times, but unlike usual, the feeling of bending did not give her the grounding she usually got from it. Like the metal itself, the thought of a certain bender did not give her peace. Lin was in turmoil and she feared it wouldn't be long before she volunteered for acupuncture.

After catching Kuvira eavesdropping, she had to explain to the others what had happened in the corridor and it had taken all her strength not to shout out loud. Unlike herself, however, the others seemed less concerned about the incident. Except for Asami, who had probably held back her opinion out of consideration for Korra, even if Lin had wished she had stood by her. Eventually, however, she had relented and calmed down again. The problem had to be solved and so she had decided to visit Kuvira again in her room. A big mistake, as it turned out.

All Lin wanted were answers, but what she had received were only more questions. Questions about why the situation had gotten out of hand so quickly, why this tension between Kuvira and her was far less hostile than she had previously assumed, and most importantly, why she was behaving so irresponsibly. Lin was the police chief of Republic City and Kuvira was a war criminal under arrest. She was in charge of her and was being more wasteful and thoughtless with her responsibility than she had ever been in her tenure.

Lin had spent half the night getting to the bottom of the tangled thoughts and she could no longer deny that Kuvira had a certain attraction for her. She didn't know why, but it was driving her crazy. No matter how many times she tried to convince herself that these feelings were wrong, even before last night, they were crumbling faster than a toddler learning earthbending. If Kuvira hadn't shown her so clearly last morning in the training hall that she felt similarly to her, it wouldn't have come to this last night. At least that's what she tried to tell herself.

Kuvira had provoked her with her behaviour, although she had even been really nice by her standards. She had even brought her a whisky and she was not at all entitled to it. But she had not been able to resist when she had so obviously challenged her. It had only taken the hint of a possibility and she had gone for it, driven by the desire for clarity when she already had it.

"I want you to show me my limits," Kuvira's words echoed behind her brow, making waves in her mind. Slowly, she let the index finger of her right hand wander over the rough pores of the lump in her hand and her thoughts began to circle again.

She didn't have to tell herself that it was completely wrong how she had reacted to her statement. Spirits, she couldn't even blame it on the alcohol, because she had drunk far too little for that! Not even the fact that she had asked the young bender whether she should leave or sit down again brought her peace. And yet she had been able to read the same desire from her eyes. She had known the moment she had walked up to her that she would resist her as little as she had in the morning. Every sensible cell in Lin had screamed, but she couldn't fight the curiosity and the desire that had been kindled. And Kuvira had practically begged for it. Or at least that's what she told herself to calm her guilty conscience. But she became anything but calm when she thought about last night. It stirred her up, it aroused her and, above all, she thirsted for more. The forbidden fruit always tastes the sweetest, Su had once told her when they had been much younger. And Lin now knew all too well what she had been talking about. Even if she had behaved in an encroaching and inappropriate way, she didn't regret it one bit, that had become clear to her in the last few hours.

And it had become even clearer to her that Kuvira now knew that with all clarity. Not only did she now hold the possibility of wrapping her around her finger, now that she knew about her interests, no, rather she now also had the possibility of ruining her altogether. The former Great Uniter had nothing to lose. Lin, on the other hand, had everything. Her reputation, her job and, on top of that, the family she had so vehemently kept away from her. It was a game of fire and Lin was about to get burned, no matter what the outcome. The most sensible thing to do would be to get on an airship and leave for Republic City immediately, but that was not possible until the security situation had been clarified.

No matter which way she looked at the situation, she was up to her neck in trouble and she had gotten herself into it. She had to find a way to come to terms with it or, even more, to pull the cart out of the mud.

As the first rays of sunlight hit her face, Lin placed the meteorite back on the pedestal from which she had taken it. She tipped the cold tea into one of the flowerbeds and then set about getting back into the house. A patrol crossed her path and for once the group looked dutiful and businesslike. Lin thought about maybe having a crash course with the guards and teaching them how to behave as an organ of justice, but she didn't know if she was getting in her sister's way again. The last thing she wanted was to provoke more trouble, and after all, she had promised her to keep a low profile. 

The best thing would be to take Kuvira to the training hall that morning and talk to her about the evening before she had a chance to talk to anyone else about it. After all, they were alone there and she had already missed breakfast anyway, so Lin headed straight for her quarters where she would wait for Kuvira as soon as she left.

"Lin! I'm glad I ran into you, I wanted to talk to you later today anyway."

Lin turned to see her sister leaning in the doorway to her study. Apparently she had been planning something else, but now she had spied her.

"How long have you been up?" asked Su, casting a puzzled glance at her outfit. Lin sighed and pulled her dressing gown a little tighter, for she hadn't bothered to get dressed yet in the early hours of the morning. After all, she had expected to be able to lie down in bed once more.

"What do you want?" she asked instead of giving an answer to her question but tried to sound a little nicer than usual.

"Come in.", Su asked her and preceded her into her study. She leaned against her massive desk and Lin waited with her arms crossed for her to tell her why she wanted to talk to her. "Are you all right?" she asked, giving her a now concerned look.

"Yes, everything is fine.", Lin waved it off, surprised at how confidently she could lie. "What do you want to talk about?"

"I thought about our situation for a long time yesterday and talked to my husband about it. You weren't entirely wrong in what you said, and I have to admit that I was a little careless about the safety precautions."

Su looked down sheepishly and Lin stifled a biting comment. "And what conclusion did you come to?"

"You know, I thought there wouldn't be any problems. Kuvira surrendered to Korra and she eventually took responsibility for her actions in court. I assumed she wouldn't cause us any problems, but even though I played it down yesterday, the incident did give me pause for thought. One of her conditions is that she is not to walk around the house alone and she was able to listen freely to our conversation which, as you correctly said, was not meant for her ears. It does worry me increasingly that the guards are not doing their duty properly."

Lin raised his eyebrows in surprise. After all that had been said yesterday, she had not assumed that Su would be the least bit concerned about the situation. Seeing her so insightful now almost made Lin feel guilty.

"We've decided that we'll ask President Moon for extra guards, even if it means she'll most likely have Kuvira transported back to Republic City." Su's shoulders slumped quite a bit now and she looked like she was about to suffer a fainting spell. "Even though I would like to give her the opportunity to prove herself, it makes little sense under the circumstances. I believe in her Lin, but I don't trust her. At least not yet. And I don't know if that will ever be the case again. But hoping she doesn't make another misstep that will never happen is perhaps worse than her making one and us not being prepared for it. I know how much you like hearing that, but you were right."

Lin could see her sister clinging to the edge of the table with both hands as if she was about to collapse. Even though she had wished all along that Su would agree with her and finally listen to her doing so, it was now not even half as satisfying as she had imagined. So she abandoned her defensive posture and walked over to her sister.

"You're wrong." she said softly, putting her hands on Su's shoulders. Her sister flinched slightly, as if she had expected a slap or something like that, not an encouraging gesture.

"Forgive me if I have to ask you to be more specific," Su said, visibly confused.

Lin rubbed Su’s collarbone with her thumb, then sat down beside her sister on the edge of the table. "I know I've been pressuring you about Kuvira from the beginning, and I also know I've run you over with it a time or two."

Any normal person would have interjected an _I'm sorry_ at this point, but after all the years of silence Lin still found it hard to say the words. "But maybe I need to revise my statement."

Lin didn't manage to look her sister in the eye, for as hard as it was for her to say those words, it was equally hard for her to bear Su's surprise. In some ways she was like her mother and a stone had never moved of its own accord before, any more than her views had, and this seemed to throw Su into the deepest confusion.

"But why all of a sudden? Until yesterday you wanted nothing more than to immediately lock Kuvira in a cell and not give her the slightest benefit of the doubt."

Lin bit her tongue and thought feverishly how she could say that she no longer wanted Kuvira to be taken back to Republic City. What had happened she couldn't tell Su, because that might have provoked their second big argument and another thirty years of silence. So she tried a half-truth.

"I... talked to her last night," she then brought out contritely.

"Oh.", was all Su managed to produce. For quite a while neither of them said anything until Su wriggled out of her stupor and drummed her fingers impatiently on the tabletop. "And that changed your mind?"

Lin focused her gaze on the carpet beneath her slippers and wished nothing more than to be able to walk out of the room. "Partially."

"I'm sorry, but you'll have to explain a little more." Now the matriarch pushed herself off the table and wandered aimlessly around the room. Lin's compliance seemed to make her more uneasy than her vehement refusal.

"What's there to explain?" grumbled Lin.

"Quite a lot, if you ask me."

"We were talking, what more is there to say?" Now she crossed her arms in front of her chest again and adopted her usual dismissive attitude.

"Oh come on Lin!" Su's voice had almost a pleading tone.

"I don't think she'll cause you any trouble. That's all. So I don't see the need to inform President Moon." she explained. "For now!" she added as a precaution so that it didn't sound too insightful.

"One conversation is enough to change your mind?" Su's eyebrows almost touched her hairline. Lin knew how implausible it must sound that she had changed her mind overnight. After all, the last time she had changed her mind it had been almost thirty years. If she wanted to avoid Su asking her unpleasant questions, she would have to offer her something more to prevent her from discovering the real reason for her insight.

"Believe it or not, during the years as chief I have acquired a good knowledge of human nature. And I can see that Kuvira regrets her actions. After all, as you rightly said, she has also taken responsibility for her actions and found herself guilty." Lin chewed on the inside of her cheek, thinking of the best way to explain herself. "What she needs is a strong hand to guide her because she can't control her impulsiveness. And I don't think a sentence in a maximum-security prison alone will help her with that," she concluded.

The silence that now followed was almost deafening. She could not even hear Suyin breathing. At the same time, she wondered if she had revealed too much and was already laying out her next sentences.

"Every time I think you can't surprise me anymore, you come up with something new that throws me completely off course," Su finally said, but her words felt like hammer blows to Lin's chest. If only you knew, Lin thought, covering her face with one hand. "Whatever you two discussed, it shall be fine with me."

To get over the awkward moment, Lin said something she had thought about several times this morning but had not wanted to bring out. Now, however, seemed a good time for her to change the subject. "I can offer to give your new guards some training and prepare them better."

Lin's attempt to steer the conversation in another direction did not seem to fall on deaf ears as expected. Su was in a vulnerable position and now it looked quite like she was happy about her suggestion.

"Baatar Sr. suggested the same thing yesterday."

"Smart man.", Lin agreed with her statement.

"Would you?"

Lin did manage a glance at her sister now. A worry line furrowed her brow, making her look older than she actually was. Normally Lin would have refused, telling her that she had heaps of work to do in Republic City herself, but now she was happy with any excuse to keep Su away from the heart of the matter. "Sure," she agreed.

For a moment it looked as if Su wanted to hug her, but Lin straightened up before she had the chance. "Thank you, Lin.,", the matriarch then said, apparently highly satisfied with the outcome of the conversation.

"Don't mention it." she waved it off and was about to turn to leave, but Su held her back.

"No, that's not what I mean." Lin glanced at the hand resting on the sleeve of her dressing gown and resisted the urge to shake it off. Su's gratitude was more than misplaced and she was finding it hard enough as it was to keep her misbehaviour to herself, believing that guilt could be read smoothly from her eyes. "I mean that you could bring yourself to take a step towards her."

Her neck stiffened noticeably when she heard Su's words. Yes, she had taken a huge step towards Kuvira, she thought bitterly. Only it had been one in the wrong direction. And only her guilty conscience made her be more conciliatory now. "I'm taking Kuvira to her training now."

She left the room as quickly as she could and almost had the impression that she was on the run. Lin could rival the worst criminals in her city, that's how much she could save face while lying to her sister. She had to talk to Kuvira as soon as possible and tell her that what had happened last night must not be repeated. Above all, she had to make it clear to her that she must not tell anyone about it, or she would get into hot water.

As Lin walked down the corridor leading to her and Kuvira's rooms, she did not see a guard standing outside the door. The conversation with Su must have lasted longer than she had thought, and she had now missed breakfast too. So what, she thought, and hastily washed and dressed. She could always get a bite to eat afterwards, or she would simply wait until noon. After all, she had often missed meals when she had more important things to do and what she was about to do seemed to be one of them.

For a brief moment she considered putting on her metal uniform, but then refrained and made her way to the training hall. Just outside the door she saw two guards standing there, wearing their full uniform for a change.

"Chief Beifong!" they both greeted her monotonously.

"Good morning. You can go now, I'll take it from here." Lin waited for one of the two men to protest, but they did not. They merely nodded and moved away, probably instructed by Su to follow her instructions. Lin waited until they had moved far enough away because she wanted to be sure she could talk to Kuvira without being disturbed, then she pulled open the door and entered the hall.

She found Kuvira on the small stool, where she was wrapping the bands around her forearms but not looking up at her. She probably knew who it was anyway.

"We need to talk."

There was an awkward silence in which Kuvira calmly wound up her ribbons and Lin waiting for her to say something, but it didn't happen. She grabbed the last roll and now turned to her left arm, which was still uncovered.

"About last night." the older woman then added, but Kuvira still did not look up at her.

"I don't see what we need to talk about." Kuvira's voice echoed unusually loudly through the hall and Lin was almost afraid it could be heard from outside, which was of course nonsense.

"Maybe about what happened," Lin hissed, considerably quieter than the young woman on the stool.

"You brought me a drink, we talked, I overreacted and you left."

The police chief stared down at the younger woman and felt anger begin to bubble inside her. Not only did her lack of concern confuse her, but it was also now causing her to become angry herself and normally she was the more controlled of the two. But before she could get carried away with a biting comment, she paused. Did the metalbender not want to talk about it because it made her uncomfortable? Had Lin taken advantage of her position towards her and now she wanted to leave it uncommented so as not to get herself into trouble?

But Lin could dismiss the last thought in reason. Kuvira was smart and too intelligent not to see the opportunity that presented itself. If she wanted to harm Lin, she would now have leverage against her. After all, this woman had not been the draught horse of a revolution without reason. She was anything but weak, even if she presented herself that way. So Lin struck a more conciliatory tone.

"Listen... I know that my behaviour yesterday was inappropriate and I let myself get carried away with something I should not have done."

"And now you're telling me to keep my mouth shut." Kuvira fastened the loose end of the ribbon to her wrist and finally looked up at her. Her expression was hard and unmoving, but her eyes spoke a different language. Lin faltered as she recognised the expression in them. Was that vulnerability? "You're afraid I'll go to Su and tell her what happened?" asked Kuvira, but it sounded more like a statement.

"I..." Lin wanted to retort something glib as the dark green eyes eyed her, but the words stuck in her throat.

Before she could form a half-correct sentence in her head, Kuvira stood up and walked over to the ropes hanging from the ceiling. The conversation was obviously over for her for the time being. Lin wanted to hold her back and force her to talk to her about what had happened, but she held back. She could use the pause to get her thoughts in order and think of something helpful to bring up to the young woman. So now, for her part, she settled on the stool and propped her elbows on her knees as she watched Kuvira warm up.

The young metalbender seemed to have already forgotten that her overseer was even present and began bending the metal from the base. She stretched with the purified earth and let it flow in graceful shapes around her body. Lin kept trying to focus on something else, but her eyes kept wandering over to Kuvira, who was bouncing back and forth in the sparse rays of morning sunlight. She already knew that the former Great Uniter was much more than just a gifted fighter, but unlike last time, she could see the beauty and purity in her movements. She treated her element as if it were a part of her and took bending forms to a whole new level. If Su's dancers had made an impression on her before, they now paled against Kuvira's solo performance. She seemed to flow as much as the metal between her hands and her movements seemed accomplished and noble. Nothing she saw was reminiscent of the brutality of the attacks with which she had once attacked her. It was as if she had never done anything else in her life but dance.

Lin was snapped out of her trance when a bright flash caught her attention. A fine metal plate shot towards her and before she could even duck or turn to the side, it had closed around her wrist. Puzzled, she looked down at the shiny bracelet she now wore and before she could remove it, she felt a slight tug emanating from it. At first, she did not react to it, but then the pressure became a little more urgent and pulled her to her feet.

The police chief stumbled awkwardly down the hall, her right hand outstretched in front of her, until she finally stopped behind Kuvira. The metalbender had her back turned, her arms raised high above her head. With a fluid movement she lowered them and the metal she had just bend reunited with the one on the base. The small bracelet on Lin's hand also disappeared again.

Lin did not even rub her wrist; she was so perplexed. Kuvira just stood in front of her, her back still turned, her shoulders slightly tense with exertion. She could see a small bead of sweat coiling from a loose strand of hair at the nape of her neck, sliding down vertebra by vertebra until it disappeared into her top.

"I know you think badly of me. It's perfectly understandable after all I've done. You see in me what I used to be. Manipulative and dogged, willing to make any sacrifice for my goals. But I'm not like that anymore. I don't want to be that anymore." Kuvira remained completely motionless as she spoke and her voice was strangely toned. Then she turned to face her and Lin was almost left breathless. Where the young woman had seemed cold and detached earlier, she now had an expression of infinite sorrow on her features. She looked almost desperate. And then the reason for her reticence became all too clear.

Lin had spent half the night brooding over the fact that she had gone too far and let her confusing feelings lead her to do something she would rather not have done. Seeing Kuvira's hurt expression in her eyes now, however, was evidence of something else entirely. She had not reacted dismissively earlier because she was uncomfortable, but rather because she must have feared exactly what Lin had said earlier.

There was much more to last night's request than just a sexual need, Lin now realised in no uncertain terms. Kuvira longed for recognition and sincere affection for what she was. She didn't know much about the relationship she'd had with her nephew, but after firing at him and her family, she'd severed any remaining ties. And Lin, in her confusion about herself and her feelings had only seen what she wanted to see. But there was so much more hiding beneath the many layers of self-protection she had erected around herself. And all at once Lin's shame was much greater than before.

"You think I regret what happened," Lin stated.

Kuvira flinched as if Lin had slapped her and looked down. She didn't have to say anything back to her, because Lin already knew the truth.

"I want to repent. My position and my duty demand it of me," she then finally said. "But I can't."

Now Kuvira looked up at her and now it was her who seemed completely perplexed. A hint of relief stole into her features and yet her brows were furrowed with worry lines. The half metre that was between them suddenly seemed like a yawning void that wanted to be overcome.

"I can't." repeated Lin, swallowing hard. She lifted a hand and brushed a strand behind Kuvira's ear that had come loose from her braid during her exercises, stroking her cheek with her fingers as she lowered her hand again. Halfway down, however, she was stopped. Kuvira's fingers closed around her own and for a moment Lin forgot to breathe.

"Then don't do it." the former Great Uniter breathed, and again that pleading entered her gaze.

Lin searched her eyes, then looked at both her hands and she dropped all caution. The chief took a step forward but paused for a brief moment. Everything in her rebelled, prompting her to do what she had been thinking about all this time. The exact opposite of what she was about to do. But Kuvira did not reject her, no, she invited her and Lin was unable to refuse her.

Within a heartbeat she was so close to her that she could see every pore of her skin, every hair of her thick brows and the iridescent green hues of her irises in the incoming light of the sun. The tips of their noses touched gently and Lin's gaze travelled from her beguilingly beautiful eyes down to her slightly parted lips. The last strand that still connected her to her sanity finally snapped and she brought her lips together in a cry of longing.

The younger metalbender welcomed her with soft lips, softer than Lin had imagined and her fingers closed tighter around her hands. Lin tasted the sweetness of her mouth and caressed her lips with her touch. She ran the tip of her tongue over her lower lip and sucked lightly on it, eliciting a slight groan from Kuvira. The kiss became more intense and their bodies overcame the remaining inches that still separated them. Lin removed her fingers and wrapped both hands around her neck, anxious to pull her even closer. A fire of lust surged inside her as their tongues touched and with the last bit of sanity left in her body, she ended the kiss.

Kuvira's cheeks were flushed, not from the physical exercise but rather from the heat that the kiss had turned into. Her hands were still clasped around her waist in a demanding manner, fingertips clawed tightly into her clothing.

"Not here." said Lin breathlessly, and the reproachful expression in Kuvira's eyes turned to understanding. With a tentative nod, she pushed away from her, her hand reaching back in search of a foothold on one of the ropes.

The training session was almost over and Lin was anxious to avoid those who came after them witnessing what had just happened. "I'll take you back now," she said, barely concealing the wistfulness that crept into her tones. “We’ll sort that out.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It took a little longer because a large part of the chapter deleted itself (my fault).


	9. Tonight is tonight ... and tomorrow is tomorrow

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WARNING!! THIS CHAPTER CONTAINS SEXUAL CONTENT! 
> 
> please take this note seriously!

Kuvira lay stretched out on her bed, her eyes aimlessly fixed on the bright ceiling above her. On her stomach lay the biography of Avatar Kyoshi, which she had already tried to continue reading several times but had finally given up. Her thoughts and mind were restless and she kept feeling her lips with her fingertips where Lin had touched them.

What had happened in the hall a few hours ago was so much more than that the night before. Yes, she had noticed the tension between them. Yes, she had challenged Lin with the hope of the reaction that had caught her completely off guard. And yes, damn it, she had longed for more. When Lin had just left her standing there, it had taken hours for her to finally calm down and now she felt the same way.

But what was tearing her up inside this time was not so much the arousing feeling of the kiss that made her close her eyelids in pleasure every time, no, it was her own vulnerability. When Lin had said that they needed to talk about what had happened, she had immediately realised that she was going to tell her that she regretted what had happened. And it had taken all her effort not to show it to her. Kuvira herself knew how wrong it was, what she had conjured up, and yet she could not resist. Whether it was her perpetual eagerness for self-destruction or the increasingly insistent need to be close to Lin, she couldn't say herself. But she had revealed something of herself to Lin and her fear of rejection ran too deep for her words not to hurt her.

She turned on her side and curled up, both fists pressed against her eyes. Revealing her fear to Lin when she had dragged her to her had been a gamble. A very big one. Not because of the positions they were both in, but because of fear for herself. How many times had she tried to gain recognition? Her parents had rejected her. Su had rejected her. The world had rejected her. And yet she still thirsted for it so much that she could not resist. But this one time, this damned one time, she had not been rejected and it triggered a feeling inside her that she did not know.

Of course, this experience held shadows. Shadows that could be much darker and more dangerous than any before. She had always been able to assess the consequences of her actions and even if they had hit her hard each time, she had been able to pick herself up again. But now she was already down and she didn't know what a new setback could do to her. Maybe she had to completely tear herself apart first before she could put herself back together again.

But was she really ready for that? Was she really capable of opening up to Lin in this way? Their attraction for each other was now more than clear to her, if it hadn't been already. She wanted Lin more than she had ever wanted Baatar Jr. And that scared the hell out of her. With Baatar, she knew where she stood. And she had always known that he loved her more than she loved him. Here, too, she had acted with calculation and disdain. But now she experienced a helplessness in the face of her feelings that she had not known in this way. The older woman had an effect on her like a beguiling drug. She wanted to refuse and withdraw and yet she equally wanted to expose herself to the intoxication. What was waiting for her at the end of this spiral, she did not know. But this much was certain, it was guaranteed to be nothing good.

Kuvira was relieved of her worries and fears for the time being when there was a knock at the door. A second later, Lin entered. The young woman straightened up and slid down to the edge of the bed, waiting for Lin to say something, but she just stood there for interminable seconds with her back leaning against the door, just looking at her. It was almost uncomfortable the way she was eyeing her at that moment. It almost seemed as if she was weighing what she wanted to say, or rather could say, and Kuvira began to suck on the inside of her cheek.

"It's time for dinner.", Lin then finally said, having apparently fought out her thoughts. "We'll ... talk afterwards, when I bring you back."

Kuvira nodded, though it didn't feel like agreement to her. She had already spent the whole day waiting and this tiresome dinner with Su trying to fit her in every time, suddenly felt like torture. In Lin's absence, her thoughts had taken on a life of their own and she hated it when that happened. If she had at least had something to do, she could have distracted herself, but this way she was forced to brood and that was at least as bad as the uncertainty.

Still, she tried not to let her impatience show and followed Lin out into the hallway.

"Just act like you always do," Lin said to her quietly and Kuvira suppressed the urge to roll her eyes but didn't answer her. Instead, she just walked beside Lin in silence. How else was she supposed to behave? She had no desire to talk effusively with the others, nor did she even want to have dinner with them. She would have preferred to have her meals in the same way as in the morning and at noon, namely in her room. But she had no say in the matter, so she had no choice but to behave as she always did.

For a change, they were the first to enter the dining room that evening. No one else was present and suddenly Kuvira felt that the room was much too big for two people. She sat down on her chair and adjusted the fork that had already been set, which was not parallel to the plate.

"Listen, there's something I should tell you before..." but before Lin could tell her what she meant, they heard footsteps in the corridor. Kuvira gave her a questioning look, then lowered her gaze back to the plate. She pressed the soles of her feet harder on the floor to steady herself, but Lin's statement made her uneasy.

"Ah how nice, you're already here." It was Su, as expected, who now entered the room. Her former foster father was nowhere to be seen, probably neck deep in work.

Lin only grunted a polite greeting but looked unusually tense. As Su took her seat at the head of the table, Kuvira couldn't help but notice something that had escaped her before. As she usually avoided looking at Su's table, she now noticed the flower arrangements that had been draped behind it. Normally this only happened when there was a festive occasion and Kuvira went through the birthdays of the Beifong family in her head, but today was not one of those days. Then she was surprised to discover that she did not know at all when Lin was born, possibly because her name had hardly ever been mentioned during her time in Zaofu.

While she wondered what the occasion was for decorating the room in such a way, the room gradually filled with the rest of the Beifong family, with Korra and Asami taking their seats last. Then a glassy chime sounded as Su banged her dessert fork against her glass to make herself heard.

"My husband will probably not be able to make it to us today as he is busy with his inventions as usual. Therefore, I will now speak on his behalf for us." She let her eyes roam over the round, as if to make sure that everyone's attention was on her. "As we have learned today, the Avatar's presence is required in Republic City, which means that Korra and Asami will be leaving tomorrow, unfortunately."

Kuvira glanced over at the two women in question and could read something like relief from Asami's expression. She couldn't even blame her for that, knowing all too well that the young woman was reluctant to endure her presence.

"And unfortunately, my beloved sister will also be leaving us tomorrow, as she too must return to her business as police chief." Kuvira did not hear the rest of Su's speech and she hardly noticed that food was being served. All she noticed was Lin stiffening on the chair next to her and looking unusually sour.

Of all the things she had thought of that Lin could have talked to her about, that was the last thing she had thought of. Of course she had been aware that the chief would not stay here forever. And she had been just as aware that what was brewing between them was not a thing that had no expiry date. And yet Su's words caught her completely off guard.

Kuvira concentrated on suppressing her thoughts, to behave exactly as Lin had asked her to. As always. So she mechanically shoved one fork after another into her mouth and occasionally took a sip of water from her glass. The conversations of the others drifted to her from a distance and she had to suppress the urge not to get up and go back to her room.

She had allowed a moment of weakness and opened up to Lin and now she was being rejected again. That was what she got for letting people get to her! She should have resisted this feeling from the beginning and not given in to it in the slightest. She had spent the last few days brooding like a stupid child and had made herself dependent in a way that was now costing her dearly. What had she been thinking? Had she not learned from her mistakes? She was not allowed to trust other people! Every damn time she had been hurt and now it was happening again!

"Kuvira!"

When everyone was silent all at once and looking at her, she broke through her self-constructed veil of seething thoughts and looked up. Her gaze slid first to Su, who had called her name and was now looking at her with eyes widened in horror. Then she looked to the opposite row of tables, where Korra had already risen, and lastly at her hands. Her right hand clenched around her fork, which had bent under the pressure of her mind. The rest of the cutlery had compressed into shapeless lumps that hovered about a hand's width above the table. Realising what she had done, she loosened her grip on her bending and with a metallic clang everything fell back onto the table.

"I..." she stammered, watching the lump that must once have been a spoon roll off the edge of the table and fall to the floor.

"What's wrong?" asked Su, and from her posture Kuvira could tell she was ready to intervene if it became necessary.

"I...am not feeling well," she brought out in a stammer, ironically avoiding Lin's gaze.

"Then perhaps it would be better if you went back," Su suggested, rising. "Please, continue to enjoy your dinner. I'll take care of her."

Kuvira was at that moment glad for her life that Su offered to take her back to her room and not Lin. For that was the last person she wanted to speak to just now. With a loud scuffle she pushed her chair back and almost ran to the door but waited for Su to quickly catch up with her. As soon as she was level with her, she automatically continued down the corridor. The Metal Clan leader didn't speak to her until she was back in her room, but it wouldn't be Su if she just left her alone now.

"Is something wrong?" the older woman asked her as soon as she had closed the door.

"No, everything is fine.", Kuvira replied gruffly, but did not manage to sit down because of tension.

"That looked quite different just now." Su took a step towards her, but Kuvira backed away from her.

"It's all right." she tried to assure her, but Su would not let go so quickly.

"Kuvira." she lifted. "I know you well enough to know that this is not true." She didn't come any further towards her, but Kuvira wished she would let her worried expression be.

She sucked the air in sharply through her nose and spat out her next words before she could hold them back. "I'm not a little child anymore Su, so stop treating me like this!"

The matriarch looked at her sternly but could not hide the hurt expression in her eyes. "No, you're not. But if you're not in control, then there's little point to any of this." she replied coolly and a cold shiver ran down Kuvira's spine.

"I am in control." she said, tasting at the same time the bitterness of her own lie. After all, she couldn’t tell Su why she was really upset. "It's these dinners that drive me crazy. Everyone stares at me like I'm an attraction in a circus."

Su looked at her thoughtfully for a while, then her features softened. "I didn't know you felt that way about it. All I wanted was to integrate you a little more, to make you feel-"

"At home?" blubbered Kuvira. "I'm a prisoner, no matter how much effort you put into it." She held Su's pitying gaze, wanting for a moment to feel worse than she did, but then she pulled herself together. After all, she hadn't been the reason for the destroyed cutlery. "I think I just need a little more time to get used to it."

"We all need that," Su agreed with her. "It's going to take a while for everything here to get back to normal for you and for us, but I sincerely hope that you'll be able to think of this house as your home again someday."

Kuvira said nothing in reply. After all, it was far too early for that. She knew that Su wanted exactly what she had just said, but it took two. And as long as she was trapped in her self-recriminations and let her guilt eat away at her, she was not yet ready to consider the family she had done so much damage to as her home.

"I'll leave you to it then," Su said and went back to the door. Before she left, however, she turned to her once more. "I'm always here for you if you need someone to talk to." She didn't wait for a reply, instead quietly closing the door and leaving Kuvira alone.

"Wonderful.", Kuvira murmured softly, resisting the urge to punch the wall. She was lucky Su hadn't taken this outburst as an opportunity to put her on the airship first thing in the morning. The last thing she wanted was to be put back in that awful cell in Republic City.

The metalbender went into her small bathroom and turned on the tap so that ice-cold water came out. She formed a hollow with the palms of her hands and wet her face and neck with it to calm herself down a little. She did not want to get caught up in her thoughts again now, because that would only agitate her even more.

Before she turned the tap off again, she already heard her door open another time. She didn't know if she was ready for this confrontation yet, but she took a few more seconds to brace herself on the edge of the pool and exhort herself to calm down. When she felt she couldn't put it off any longer, she looked in the mirror one last time and tidied her hair, then left the bathroom.

Lin was standing in the middle of the room, as expected, already waiting for her. At first, she wanted to ignore her and walk past her, but she wouldn't have been able to keep that up. Instead, she leaned against the high bookshelf and put both hands in her trouser pockets.

"What's up?" she asked pointedly casually, trying not to let her emotional chaos show.

"I wanted to see if you were okay," Lin replied, visibly contrite.

"As you can see, I am. That means you can leave." she said wanly, waiting for Lin to move, but she remained as motionless as the shelf she was leaning against.

"And the cutlery thing?" the older bender made a prompting gesture, but Kuvira didn't feel the slightest desire to explain it to her. So she merely shrugged.

"What about it?"

"Don't take me for a fool." Lin's lips now formed a thin line.

"I'm just acting like I always do. That's what you wanted, isn't it?" hissed Kuvira, clenching her hands into fists in her trouser pockets.

The older woman looked at her rather pained for a moment, then took a deep breath and pressed the knuckles of her index and middle fingers against the bridge of her nose. "I wanted to tell you before Su came in. The news came at noon today that the Triads are causing quite a bit of trouble and they're asking for me."

Under other circumstances, Kuvira would certainly have appreciated Lin trying to explain herself, but now she tried with all her might to fight down her disappointment.

"That's just the way it is," she said, shrugging her shoulders again. "You don't have to explain yourself."

"Your outburst just now tells me otherwise."

"It wasn't an outburst, I was just..." Yes? What was she? Angry? Sad? Hurt? Indeed, she was. Especially after what had happened this morning. She had imagined the evening differently, if she had imagined anything at all. "It's nothing new for people to reject and abandon me," she said soberly then, trying to make her voice sound calm.

"I think I've made it very clear to you that I'm not rejecting you." Lin lowered her hand again, but her lips remained pressed together.

"You don't have to explain yourself," Kuvira repeated stoically. "I just don't have anything to expect."

Her statement seemed to hit Lin harder than she had expected, for muscles were now standing out all too clearly on her neck.

"You think this is a game?" exclaimed Lin. "Do you think that this whole thing is easy for me?"

"I don't think that at all. Because as I see it, your main concern is that I'm left here without supervision and you can no longer make sure I don't tell anyone about what happened on your watch."

Kuvira's tongue was quicker than her mind, but in essence that was exactly what she was afraid of. Rejection. But she almost instantly regretted what she had said, for now Lin was looking at her as if she were torturing her.

"Lin..." she lifted, but the older woman was on her so quickly that she barely managed to blink.

She grabbed Kuvira by both shoulders and pushed her against the rule wall. "This... I shouldn't have let it get this far in the first place!"

Kuvira glowered at her, careful not to let on that she would have liked to take back her words of a moment ago. She wanted to shout at her, wanted to push her away and at the same time she wanted to pull her close and not let her go. Likewise, she wanted to tell her how much her brokenness tormented her and that she still wouldn't tell anyone what had happened between them. But she had practised burying her feelings for too long to really tell her how she felt.

"Then tell me you regret it. Tell me this feels wrong." Kuvira withstood the icy green eyes and grabbed Lin's forearms. She had never done things by halves before. If Lin was going to destroy her, she had better do it right.

But now the aggressive façade of her overseer seemed to be crumbling. Her features slipped away little by little, although she continued to clench her teeth tightly for control. Kuvira swallowed hard, waiting for Lin to say what she was asking of her, but she could tell by the older woman that it wasn't going to happen.

"I can't," Lin whispered, but didn't let go of her shoulders. "But I could lose everything."

"So could I," Kuvira said just as quietly. Even if she didn't mean the same things as Lin, she could see her beginning to understand. What she had to lose was not of material value. It was far more valuable.

Lin looked at her in anguish, almost as if the same turmoil as herself was swirling around her. "You don't understand..." she said, but the pressure on her arms was already easing a little.

"I understand very well.", Kuvira answered her in a firm voice. "The risk is high. But is it worth it to you?"

The older metalbender's eyes bored more firmly into hers now, seemingly caught in a battle with herself. Kuvira could see it working behind her brow, and at the same time how much effort it must take Lin to resist the physical closeness she had once again created. But she was tired of waiting for it. She wanted clarity and she wanted it now.

She gripped Lin's forearms tighter and pulled them down. The resistance was there but she was able to overcome it without much effort and then she pressed her lips firmly to the older woman's. It was not a tender kiss, there was something forced about it and Lin's eyes widened. Then she jerked her forearm up and rammed it against Kuvira's chest, pushing her back against the shelf. She looked at her both angry and exhausted and the pressure of her arm on her chest was as heavy as a whole load of stones.

"Apparently not." said Kuvira bitterly. There was her clarity.

The two benders stared at each other for a few seconds that seemed to stretch into an eternity. Lin's brows twitched, but then she seemed to lose the battle against herself and the lips that had been pressed together so vehemently finally gave way.

"Shut up." she said in a raspy voice and leaned forward.

The older woman's still free hand grabbed her roughly by the back of her neck and dug her fingers into her skin, forcing Kuvira to lift her head a little. Lin's lips touched her neck, kissing her ungently, and as they bit into her skin, she could not hold back a sigh. Instantly the pressure on her chest intensified and only a silent groan escaped Kuvira's lips. A wave of arousal travelled through her body, causing her hands to reach forward and grope for Lin's body. She wanted to touch her, wanted to pursue the lust that was welling up inside her, even if her chaperone's touches were anything but gentle. But then Lin let go of her and grabbed her hands before they could reach her.

With a skilful movement, the police chief forced her to turn around and now pressed her front against the shelf. "You'll have to earn it," Lin said, her lips against her ear as she had once before. "No touching."

Kuvira stood motionless, cheek pressed against the cool wall, but it would not help the heat on her face. Her hands were pressed flat against the shelf wall by Lin on the right and left at the height of her shoulders. She turned her head a little more, the angle already almost uncomfortable for her neck, to be able to look at Lin, but that was when the older woman pressed closer to her from behind.

"If I remember correctly, you liked that," Lin said. She touched her earlobe with her mouth and nibbled it tenderly, yet firmly.

Kuvira closed her eyes and tried to hide her shame. So then it had not escaped Lin's notice that she had suffered a brief moment of weakness in the hall the very first time they touched. She pressed her palms against the smooth metal surface, trying to get some grip, but she failed miserably in the attempt.

Lin now disengaged her hands from hers and wandered along her arms. Kuvira noticed that she was holding her breath again. Impatiently, the older woman pushed her braid aside and kissed her neck. She couldn't help pressing her forehead against the wall now and bit her lower lip with all her might so as not to make another sound of pleasure. The metal wall in front of her fogged up with her breath as the older woman stroked her stomach with one hand. Lin took her time with her touch, running it over her hip bone, along the hem of her trousers and then wandering back up, tracing the base of her breasts.

"I don't want to hear a single sound from you," Lin murmured in her ear and Kuvira pressed her lips together. She was too focused on what the older woman's hands were doing to her body to reply. But Lin didn't seem satisfied with that, because a hand grabbed her braid and forced her head down her neck. "Did you hear me?" she hissed. Kuvira didn't know whether she was allowed to speak or not, so she confined herself to nodding. Lin, obviously satisfied with her response, released her braid again and let her fingertips travel down her spine and back up her sides.

One of her hands slipped under her top and Kuvira sucked in air sharply through her nose as she felt the warmth on her skin. Lin's fingers slid over her stomach and up between her breasts to her neck as she moved her other hand further down. She ran it over her bottom, gripping it roughly, and then slid it back down the side of her thigh. While Lin's left hand moved down between her breasts again, slowly but surely approaching her nipple in circles, Kuvira had to pull herself together not to make a sound. Her palms seemed to have melted into the wall and yet she fought the urge to take them away from there and touch Lin as well.

"Please Lin, I want to touch you," she murmured as quietly as she could and had already completely forgotten her promise to be quiet. The answer came promptly and in an unexpected form. Lin's fingers now found her left nipple very quickly and very unerringly and pinched it firmly while her right gave her a slap on her butt.

Kuvira pressed her forehead into the wall so hard that she thought she was about to leave a hole there without metalbending. She reared back, not because Lin had hurt her, but rather because the burning of the woman’s hands ignited her lust in ways previously unthinkable.

"I said not a sound!", Lin repeated her instruction from earlier, still not letting go of her. "If you can't manage this simple thing, then I'm afraid I'll be forced to leave you like this again."

Kuvira bit her tongue so hard it almost hurt. She remembered all too well how upset she had been when Lin had just left her standing there last night. This time, if it was up to her whether she went or stayed, she would try harder to follow her instructions. The reward that beckoned in return was too sweet. So she nodded silently, the skin of her forehead sticking to the metal wall.

"Good girl.", Lin praised her, finally releasing her nipple and rewarding her with gentle touches. Both hands were now running over her upper body and kept finding their way under her top, which Kuvira felt was more than superfluous. She would have liked to tear it off but had to wait until Lin either allowed her to or did it herself. To make her impatience clear, she pressed herself closer to Lin, for which she earned a soft snort.

"Are you a little impatient already?" she taunted, digging her fingernails into her skin and dragging them across her tense belly. Kuvira held her breath, but then Lin hooked her fingers under her top and pulled it agonisingly slowly over her head. She dropped it carelessly to the floor and covered her shoulders with kisses, leaving a few lasting memories here and there. At least in places no one else would see, Kuvira thought, feeling arousal at the forbidden thought.

Then Lin suddenly took a step back and Kuvira dared a glance over her shoulder, but still didn't dare move more. But Lin pulled her close, arms wrapped tightly around her, and kissed her neck. Without quite noticing, she pushed her over to her bed and when her calves hit the edge, she slumped down onto the bed.

Lin didn't let go of her, however, but followed her and sat astride her, hands now tightly entwined in her hair, and pulled her against her. Kuvira made a surprised sound, but it was immediately smothered by Lin's lips, leaving her almost breathless at the passion of the kiss. The older woman nibbled and sucked at her lips, each touch followed by an even more intense one, demanding entry. Kuvira gave in to her demand without hesitation and touched the tip of Lin's tongue, causing her abdomen to contract in joyful arousal.

At first, she still kept her promise, but she found it increasingly difficult. Lin's hands in her hair, their tongues touching and the hot breaths on her lips made her lift her hands from the sheets and reach for the older woman. But as sweet as the kiss might have been, Lin's reaction to it was bitter. She slapped her hands away and then pushed Kuvira into the mattress with a thump against both shoulders.

"Nuh-uh." the older woman clicked her tongue and looked at her reprovingly. "You really do seem particularly slow on the uptake." She leaned forward, propped her forearm beside her head and paused a few inches from her face. "Obviously, my word is not enough."

Lin grabbed both of Kuvira's hands with her free hand and pressed them into the mattress above her head. Then she braced herself and shifted her weight to the side she was using to hold her down and made a nimble movement with her wrist. Instantly, a part of the shelf detached and floated over to them. A second later, Kuvira's wrists were bound together with a metal shackle, leaving her no room to move. She looked incredulously at the older woman above her, yet could not hide the excitement in her features.

"You like that, do you?", Lin stated with a sly smile and Kuvira felt blushes of shame rise to her face.

But Lin did not let that stop her. She reached her hand into her hair and turned her head to the side so that she could devote herself to her neck without hindrance. She was more careful here because she was obviously anxious not to leave any witnesses to her goings-on and only began to dig her teeth into her skin again when she reached the level of her collarbone.

Kuvira threw her head back as soon as Lin's hand left her hair and, at her insistence, slid further up so that her feet no longer protruded over the edge of the bed. The older bender ran the tip of her index finger along the edge of her bra and kissed the spots where her finger left a tingle on her skin. As soon as her lips reached her nipples, Kuvira's breaths deepened and came more heavily over her lips. Her chest pressed towards her lips and then Lin finally released her from the unnecessary layer of fabric.

One hand held her breast tightly while the other pressed her hip into the mattress. Lin ran her tongue around her nub in ever decreasing circles and finally took it between her lips and sucked on it. Kuvira's hips resisted the pressure of Lin's hand and began to thrust against the woman's in rhythmic movements. Lin returned her demand and mimicked her thrusts until she sat up and looked down at Kuvira.

The young bender lay bare-chested beneath her, her arms still bound above her head with the metal, enjoying the way Lin's eyes slid over her naked torso. She traced the contours of her taut abs with her fingertips, finally tracing around her belly button and then tapping against the hem of her trousers. Kuvira waited for her to undress her right away, but Lin seemed to have other things on her mind.

As she knelt over her, she slowly began to move her hands and Kuvira instantly felt her arms lift. Lin bend her bonds so that she had to straighten up and then she directed her to where her top stopped at her hip.

"Slowly." she commanded and Kuvira understood. She slipped her fingertips under the fabric and just gently stroked her skin with her knuckles. When Lin was sure her hands were holding the top, she lifted her bondage and now bared piece after piece of her body. Kuvira, who did not have to worry about what her hands were doing and only had to hold the fabric, could now see the older woman's naked skin for the first time. She was much more muscular than she would have expected a woman of her age to be. She had a belly just as flat and toned as her own, albeit with considerably more scars that she had accumulated over the years. Lin's breasts were small but firm and her shoulders were sinewy and strained from bending her bonds.

The top now slid over her head and then carelessly onto the bed beside her, but Lin did not yet release her from her grasp. Just as slowly as she had demanded, she allowed Kuvira to touch her with her fingers through her guidance. She stroked her shoulders, her cleavage, let her stroke her nipples, letting out a soft sigh and letting Kuvira feel exactly how hard they were. Then her exploration was over. Lin sent her back to the mattress, her hands in the same position as before. Kuvira looked at her a little reproachfully, as she would have liked more time, but Lin only gave her a reproving look.

"You have to earn it." she repeated in a harsh voice and without meaning to, Kuvira nodded. If that was her reward, she was only too happy to submit to the older bender. A strange yet liberating feeling.

Lin's fingers now found their way to her trousers again, this time with the clear aim of freeing her from them. And she did it faster than she had thought. Lin seemed to be getting impatient too, even if she didn't let show.

Kuvira was now completely undressed in front of the older woman who was kneeling between her bent legs, and for a brief moment her eyes darted over to the door. Lin did not miss this.

"The door is locked. There is no one standing in front of it." she assured her and Kuvira's tension instantly fell from her again. "There is something good about being housed in the back of the corridor. Even if it doesn't mean you get to be loud." A thieving smile curled the corners of her mouth and she was now running splayed fingers over her thighs and calves, leaving fine red scratch marks. A tingle crept up her spine as she did so, making her press her head harder into the mattress and arch her back.

With infinite slowness, Lin's fingers kept going down the inside of her thighs and every time she was about to touch her crotch, they went up again. It almost drove Kuvira crazy, she could already feel how wet she had become. The next time her fingers moved down, Kuvira lifted her pelvis to show her how much she craved her touch. But Lin seemed disinclined to give in to her pleas and instead lifted her hand and slapped the inside of her left thigh. A clap sounded and Kuvira sucked in a sharp breath as the burning sensation immediately set in.

"Stop being so impatient!", Lin snapped at her. "I'm setting the pace."

The older bender looked down at her sternly, but then massaged the spot she had just slapped. Kuvira nodded surrendered and Lin now let her hand move further down again, causing her body to tremble anew. The former Great Uniter did her best to keep her pelvis still, but when Lin fleetingly grazed her mons veneris, she couldn't help herself. This time, however, no slapping followed, but her hand stayed where it was.

"So impatient." commented Lin, then ran two fingers through her folds. "And so wet."

Kuvira couldn't help feeling the fingers in her crotch. Lin's words, her movements and the restraints on her wrists elicited a moan she could no longer control. Her eyes were closed, so she couldn't see the older woman's reaction, but what she felt made her eyes snap open all at once.

Lin pressed her left hand over her mouth and was now dangerously close, the other hand still in her crotch.

"I guess being quiet doesn't work anymore," she noted as her fingers played with her inner labia. Kuvira closed her eyes again as Lin reached her clit, moaning muffled into her palm.

Lin rubbed circles against her clit and the younger woman now moaned indignantly and clenched her hands into fists. Now she didn't hold back with the movements of her hips and Lin didn't seem to mind this time. Kuvira arched her back and pressed her pelvis against the older woman's hand, sending her pleasure soaring to new. Then she wandered down further, pressing the heel of her hand against her clit and continuing the circular movements in front of her entrance.

"Beg.", the older woman demanded of her.

"Lin...," Kuvira moaned into her palm. She squeezed her eyes so tightly that the muscles in her face were already beginning to ache.

"What was that?" asked Lin and Kuvira forced herself to open her eyes. The chief looked at her with a raised eyebrow, obviously displeased.

"Please!" muffled Kuvira against her palm, a clear plea drawing her brows together.

"Good girl.", Lin said and then she plunged two fingers inside her.

Kuvira faltered as she was filled by her fingers and squeezed her eyes shut tight again. Everything inside her screamed for release and now nothing held her back. She rocked her hips against Lin's hand and moaned into her palm without restraint. Thinking that alone would be enough to bring her to her climax, Lin curled her fingers and rubbed against the rough spot on her inner wall.

The former Great Uniter was barely in control of her breathing, yet she was prevented from loudly venting her lust by the hand on her lips. She clasped her hands tightly together and her toes curled with arousal as Lin's fingers pumped in and out relentlessly, brushing against her sweet spot again and again. The older bender had already teased her for too long for her orgasm to be long in coming. Everything inside her was already beginning to tense and clenched around Lin's fingers.

"I... I am close." she tried to say but failed miserably at the attempt. Lin, however, seemed to know what she wanted to say and redoubled her efforts.

"Come for me." she heard Lin say and that was enough to push her over the edge.

The orgasm rolled over her so violently that she threw herself into the sheets and only Lin's hand on her mouth prevented her from letting the rest of the house share in her release. Lin matched her thrusts to the contacting movements of her pelvis and let her fully enjoy her climax until the last second, then she pulled her fingers out of her and removed her hand from her mouth.

Kuvira lay on her back, completely exhausted, struggling to catch her breath. Sweat covered her forehead and the rest of her body and shimmered in the light of the lamp above them. A slight tingling crept into her limbs and then she looked up at Lin.

The older woman had leaned on a forearm beside her and was stroking her trembling body tenderly with her fingers. Kuvira felt she had to say something, but when the bright green iris caught her, the words fell apart in her mouth like dry earth.

"I think you've earned it now," she said seductively, and where Kuvira had just been lying on the bed heavy with exhaustion, she now tensed in prospect. She wanted to pull her arms close, but Lin's restraints held them in place. Kuvira looked at her in confusion, but the older woman only gave her a mocking grin. "They suit you." she said and rose from the bed.

The bound woman followed her with her eyes, almost fearing she would leave her like that, but then she saw Lin take off her trousers and kneel beside her. Kuvira tried hard to keep looking at her face, but her eyes inevitably wandered down to Lin's crotch.

"Oh, you can take a closer look," the older woman murmured and then knelt directly over her face.

Kuvira was momentarily stunned by Lin's gesture and didn't know what to do, but Lin took the decision from her, grabbed a handful of her hair and pressed her crotch against her lips. The younger woman could feel Lin's moisture and her own arousal welling up again. Without hesitating any longer, she ran her tongue between her folds, gathered up her slick and immediately focused on her clit. At first she considered teasing her just as the older woman had done to her before, but she abandoned the idea. Lin tasted too good and she had already made her wait long enough for it to waste time teasing her.

She concentrated with all her might on Lin's sensitive spot, feeling the tension in her thighs to the right and left of her face and the way the older woman pressed against her mouth. Kuvira moaned and made sure similar sounds escaped Lin, then let her tongue travel further down and circle her entrance with it.

"No teasing!" commanded Lin, and Kuvira hid her laughter in her folds. So she had judged her correctly then. The bender above her gripped her hair tighter and pressed her head more firmly against her crotch. She plunged her tongue into Lin and could feel the older woman's tremor.

"That's it!" whispered Lin, now propping herself against the headboard with her other hand. She rubbed herself harder and harder against Kuvira's face and the younger woman could feel that it wouldn't take her much longer.

It was a wonderful feeling, better than she had ever felt during an intimate act. Lin was in control, but Kuvira was responsible for her climax. So she did her utmost not to let the older woman forget their presumably last evening together.

Her tongue wandered back up to her clit and rubbed against it. She sucked and licked it at the same time. Lin began to breathe faster and faster above her and Kuvira could tell from the contractions of her muscles that she was about ready. Lin now pressed her pelvis harder and faster against her face and then she tensed completely.

Her swollen labia pulsed against Kuvira's lips as the older woman climaxed and rode it out on her face. What surprised her was that Lin was exceedingly quiet, but it must surely have cost her some self-control, for the artery at her throat stood out clearly.

As she rode the last wave of her orgasm, she began to relax again and then dropped down on the bed beside her. Kuvira licked her lips and rolled to her side, but this time Lin did not stop her from lowering her arms. The former Great Uniter wiped her chin clean on the bed sheet and watched Lin's body slowly calm down from the exertion. At some point she opened her eyes and noticed Kuvira staring at her. Then her eyes fell on the metal on her hands and a smirk curled her lips. With a flick of her wrist, she let the shackles float back to the shelf and reunite with it as if it had never been misused for any other purpose.

"Come here.", Lin whispered and pointed with her chin to her side.

At first Kuvira hesitated. Sex was one thing, this kind of intimacy quite another. And yet she realised that Lin's warm body was far too inviting, so she slid over to her and snuggled against her side. It felt strange on the one hand, but beautiful at the same time. And yet it reminded her painfully that what she had just gained, she would lose again in a few hours.

"Don't think about it.", Lin whispered as she stroked her shoulder with her fingertips. "Not now." as if she knew what she was thinking about.

"I can't.", Kuvira said softly, hiding her face against her neck. She was almost more ashamed of wanting their closeness in this way than the one they had just shared. But she needed something to hold on to. Or someone. Was that someone Lin?

"Just enjoy the moment." Lin said softly, hugging her tighter. "Tomorrow is tomorrow and that will come soon enough."


	10. The little bird

Lin felt the pleasant warmth emanating from the body next to her. Her fingers were still stroking Kuvira's shoulder and the arm she had wrapped around her waist. She was still feeling the heat from the physical exertion of their intimacy, but it was comforting and she was only too happy to endure.

At first it had felt strange to allow this kind of closeness, going far beyond what their bodies had just experienced. But she could feel all too clearly that the young woman craved it, even if she would never admit it. And honestly, she felt no different.

"You're in good hands here," Lin tried to soothe her concern, even if she thought she was saying it more to herself.

Kuvira lay very still beside her, breathing so shallowly and slowly that she could hardly notice it. "Have you ever seen a child holding a bird?" the young woman asked suddenly.

Lin frowned and turned her head a little to look at her, but Kuvira's gaze was fixed in the distance. "No." she then replied.

"The child holds the bird so tightly because it thinks it can show its love that way. But most of the time it can't judge its strength and in doing so it causes harm to the animal." She paused to let the words sink in for Lin. "In the end, the little bird gets crushed and the child thinks it did it out of love."

Lin did not immediately reply to her statement. Instead, she tried to understand the story Kuvira had just told her. And then she thought she rather recognised a metaphor in it. Was she trying to tell her that she would much rather fly away than stay here? Probably. Or was she trying to explain to her how she felt under Su's watch? Even more likely.

"I may not know what your relationship with my family was like before you left, but I don't think Su would want to harm you," Lin explained, but noticed Kuvira's neck tighten and she finally pulled away from her. Immediately, the spot where the young bender had been lying a moment ago seemed unusually cold to her.

"Maybe not on purpose, but Su has never quite understood me." Kuvira sat up and wrapped her blanket around her shoulders and Lin slid further up so that she could lean against the headboard. She waited patiently for the young woman to continue speaking, but she seemed to be wrestling with what she wanted to reveal about herself.

"My sister and I have a difficult past. Maybe I understand you better than you think," Lin ventured, expecting that Kuvira would now close herself off completely from her. After all, she didn't want to presume to be able to understand the young woman's worries and fears, but she at least wanted to give her the space speak freely. But she could see that very deep-seated feelings were driving Kuvira and it became much clearer to her what the young woman had meant earlier when she said that she too had a lot to lose.

"Didn't you wonder why she offered to take me in here? Didn't you wonder why she drags me to this shitty dining room every night?"

Lin saw her jaw grind and how hard she tried to hold back her emotions.

"You think this isn't about you," Lin said, knowing she was right.

"Of course it's not about me! It was never about me..." Kuvira laughed bitterly. "I may have been very small when I came to Zaofu, but it didn't take me long to understand what kind of person Su is. She may have good intentions, but she is more concerned with how she looks to others. She created this city, yes, but for what purpose? Because she wanted to show the world who she is. She took me in to show that she could tame this misguided aggressive child. And she wanted to kill me when she realised she could no longer control me."

At first Lin wanted to object. She wanted to tell her that she herself had also done great harm, but she realised that this was not a matter of weighing the actions of the two women against each other. Lin herself knew all too well what Kuvira was talking about and so she kept silent and continued to listen.

"All this is just so she can put herself in a better light and distract from her own infamies!" Kuvira curled her fingers tighter into the blanket and tried to hide her trembling. "Why doesn't Baatar Jr. have to attend the dinners? Because she can't stand that someone in her beloved family has made mistakes and she'd rather hide that. But she can use me as a figurehead and this hypocrisy disgusts me."

Lin would have liked to tell her that she understood all too well what was going on inside her. She herself had gone through nothing else with her sister. Su had been selfish and had had her way, no matter who had suffered as a result. The chief suppressed the urge to touch the scars on her cheek and instead smoothed out the creases on the blanket.

"Don't get me wrong, I'm glad I'm here and not in Republic City, but I didn't expect it to affect me so much after all. No matter how hard Su tries or how much she wants it, I'm not part of this family and I never will be. I'm nothing more than the little bird Su holds in her hand to show everyone but crushes in the process." The younger bender ruffled her hair with both hands and then dropped them, defeated, onto the blanket. "Maybe this is the punishment I deserve."

Lin looked at Kuvira in silence for a while and watched her hold back her tears. She could see that she was suffering and at the same time realised that none of her words could give her the peace she was looking for. Several times she tried to say something, but then changed her mind. And then, for once, she wished she didn't have to leave tomorrow. Yes, Kuvira had done great harm to her family and her city, but she couldn't help but see her for what she was. A rejected child who longed for love and affection and in that she was not too different from her. Perhaps her sister had been right in her statement.

"In a way, Zaofu is my punishment too.", Lin laughed without the smile reaching her eyes. Kuvira gave her a puzzled look but seemed to wait to hear what she had to say. "When I first came here and met Su again after thirty years, I had a breakdown like I have never experienced before. Yes, Su and I made up, but it still doesn't undo the past." She shrugged her shoulders and blinked several times.

She felt an urgent need to tell Kuvira that she would try to get back here, because she thought she knew how the young woman actually felt. Of course, there were other worries weighing on her soul, but she could understand those about the Beifong family all too well. But she also wondered if she could even tell her such a thing. On the one hand, the attraction the young woman had for her was clearly palpable to her and even if she didn't want to admit it to herself, she was reluctant to board the airship tomorrow. Nevertheless, her thoughts inevitably wandered to the price attached to that decision.

"But unlike me, you can leave at any time," Kuvira confirmed her thoughts.

Lin contemplated the pained expression on her face for a moment, then decided to take the plunge. "And I can also decide to come back here at any time," she said, waiting for the droning silence that now followed.

The former Great Uniter's eyes fixed on her and from the twitch in her lower lip Lin could see that she would have liked to say something in reply but held back. Then Lin decided for her to break the awkward silence and reached for her trousers, which were lying beside the bed.

"I should go now.", she said quietly and got out of bed.

"Yes.", Kuvira answered her curtly and closed her eyes.

Lin couldn't take her eyes off her tormented face as she dressed and stood indecisive for a few seconds. She stepped from one foot to the other and then once again knelt with one leg on the bed and leaned down to the young woman. Carefully, she stroked her cheek with the back of her hand and saw her brows draw together but continue to keep her eyes closed.

"This is not goodbye." she whispered softly and gave her a gentle kiss on the forehead and left the prisoner's room.

Lin stood on the landing side with Korra and Asami and watched the crew prepare the airship for take-off. Next to her on the ground was the small bag with the few belongings she had taken with her from Republic City. The other two women had similarly little luggage with them, for they had not expected a long stay either.

That morning, a stiff breeze kept sweeping across the landing site, visibly causing problems for the crew as they prepared for take-off. They were supposed to have taken off two hours ago and Lin was getting tired of waiting. For the umpteenth time, the young engineer's eyes wandered to the airship and Lin could tell she had to stifle her comments.

"How about you go see if the captain can handle the wind?" said Korra finally, who could obviously sense her girlfriend's tension as well as Lin. Asami smiled painedly, then gave her a kiss on the cheek and ran up the ramp and disappeared.

Lin shifted her weight to her other leg, producing a soft clank of her uniform, which she was now wearing again. Her gaze inevitably went back to her sister's main house and looked at the arriving group. Su and her family had just left the house and were now heading towards the landing side to see them off.

"You're probably glad to be flying back to Republic City," Korra said, and Lin winced a little, making her uniform rattle again.

"More or less." Lin shrugged but avoided the Avatar's gaze, afraid of giving herself away.

"What do you mean?" echoed Korra.

"As you can imagine, Zaofu is still not my favourite place in this world," Lin explained, shrugging her shoulders again. Then she thought about how to explain her "less", but Korra beat her to it.

"But you would have liked to stay longer because you're worried about Kuvira."

Lin narrowed her eyes to slits. If only you knew, she thought, and instantly felt a pressure in her stomach area. Immediately her guilty conscience came over her again as she thought of last night. But at the same time, a hint of excitement rose as she thought of the passion that had gripped her body just a few hours ago. Kuvira's bare skin under her fingers, her hair in her hands, the sounds of the pleasure she had elicited from her, her tongue between ...

"Lin?"

The chief blinked and looked at the young woman beside her.

"What?" she asked, realising she hadn't been listening to her at all.

"I said that you certainly had nothing to worry about." Korra looked at her with a raised eyebrow. "You're even more tense than usual. Is everything all right?"

"Yes.", Lin replied curtly, looking over at the approaching group of people. "I just want to get on this damn airship. After all, we've been waiting long enough," she rebuffed her.

"I think I can understand that." Korra ended the conversation by walking past Lin and over to Su, who had now entered the landing side.<

"The captain has just announced that you are now ready to take off," Su explained. "Korra, it was an honour to once again host the Avatar in our humble city!" began Su and Lin couldn't help but roll her eyes. Nevertheless, she brought herself to walk over to the group.

"We are grateful, Su," Korra put her hands together and bowed politely to the matriarch of the Metal Clan.

"We'll have to make up for the match, though!" interjected Wing, elbowing his twin brother in the ribs.

"Next time then!" the Avatar replied with a wink.

"We all wish you a safe journey home," Su began again, then scanned the airfield with her eyes.

"Asami is already on the airship," Korra said hastily.

"Of course she is," Su laughed. "Please give her my regards."

"I will."

Korra and Su hugged each other tightly, then the Avatar said goodbye to the rest of the clan and then walked over to the loading bay. Lin was already tempted to follow her, but Su held her back once more.

"It was good to see you again," she said softly.

"Likewise." Lin wrestled a smile from herself. Indeed, it was nice to meet her sister again under less dangerous circumstances.

"And it would be nice if you came to visit me more often in the future. Only when your work allows it, of course."

"Don't say that too loudly or I might actually do it," Lin tried to joke, even though in truth she had a very different reason for wanting to visit Zaofu more often now.

"You are always welcome here Lin." Su hesitated for a moment, then hugged her tightly and Lin couldn't help but return the gesture.

She said goodbye to the rest of her family with a nod, for she was in no mood for sentiment. She wanted to finally get into that airship, sit down somewhere and get some rest, even if that was possibly futile.

"Goodbye!" the Beifongs called out almost monotonously as Lin climbed up the loading ramp and disappeared inside the airship. The roar of the engines was particularly loud here because the engine room was nearby, but as soon as she went further towards the main deck, the loud noises lost themselves behind her.

The large room in which they had travelled here together a few days ago now seemed unnaturally large to her without the platinum cage in which they had kept Kuvira. Korra was already sitting on one of the sprawling sofas, but Asami was nowhere to be seen. So Lin took a seat opposite her and put her bag down next to the couch.

"It will probably take Asami a while to join us," Korra explained once she was comfortable. "More likely, though, she'll be flying the ship herself." She laughed and Lin joined in. She had already been radiating clear unease on the flight here, unable to decide whether to fly the ship or watch over Korra.

"Well, she doesn't have to protect you now, does she?" laughed Lin, and Korra wrinkled the corners of her mouth in mock annoyance.

"Yeah, sometimes she's scarier than my Avatar State." Lin wanted to disagree with her, but she had seen the young woman fight before and for a non-bender, she knew how to fight back extremely well. "I think she's just as happy as you are to finally fly back home. She's still in trouble when it comes to Kuvira and I don't blame her for that either."

"So it's not just because your presence is required in Republic City?" inquired Lin. She didn't know the reasons Korra had to return, but she realised all too clearly now that it was possibly not quite as urgent as her own affairs. Before Korra could answer her, a gentle jolt went through the ship, then Asami's voice clanged from the speaker that they had now cast off.

"Told you!" The Avatar grinned wryly at her and shook her head. Asami had indeed taken the wheel, it seemed. "And yes, you're right. It's hard for me to expose her to all this. Or rather Kuvira. The Gaoling thing was already hard for her, but she'd rather chop her hand off than let me come here alone," Korra explained and Lin nodded in agreement.

Every time she saw the two women together, she couldn't help but envy them for the obvious love they had for each other. And although Asami wasn't a bender or even remotely as powerful as Korra, she didn't hesitate for a second when it came to her partner's well-being. Lin had never experienced anything like it. Not from Tenzin, who had left her for Pema, nor from anyone else. And as she was about to get caught up in something hopeless again, her hope was gradually fading away like the ground beneath the airship.

"I'm glad you found someone who cares so much about you. That's something priceless," Lin said with a touch of wistfulness. Korra blinked as if she hadn't expected such a statement from her, but only nodded gratefully and scratched the back of her head shyly. To break the awkward silence, Lin got up again and walked to the small, fixed sideboard and flipped open the little door. "Would you like some tea too?"

"Yes, please."

Lin turned on the kettle and waited until the water began to boil. Then she sprinkled the crushed jasmine leaves into a small strainer and poured the water, returning to their places with the two cups. She pushed one of the two cups towards Korra across the table and blew the rising steam off the edge of the cup, playing with the strainer until the tea was ready.

"Maybe you'll find the time to support my units with the triads," she said then, looking over at the young woman with a wait-and-see attitude.

"I think between training with the airbenders and cuddling with Naga, I will certainly have time for that."

They chatted for a while about the problems associated with the triads and how best to tackle them. Mako's old contacts were also mentioned and that they could prove extremely helpful. The two women lost themselves in discussion about old problems and new dangers until Asami finally joined them, but differently than they had expected. The engineer ran onto the deck and Korra and Lin both jumped up from their seats at the same time.

"Did something happen?" asked Korra immediately.

It took Asami a few seconds to catch her breath, but then she regained her composure and looked at them both in turn. "We just got a radio message from Zaofu." Immediately Lin stiffened in her armour. "It's torn off, though, and we've tried to radio back several times, but no one's answering."

"What did they say?" Lin gritted her teeth, fervently hoping it had nothing to do with Kuvira, though a nasty suspicion was already creeping up on her. Before she could lose herself in her thoughts, Asami beat her to it.

"I can't say for sure, but it was a distress call. Apparently Zaofu is being attacked."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know it's a short chapter, but I'll make up for it in the next one ;)


	11. It's all your fault

The former Great Uniter strode restlessly through the few square metres of her quarters. The walls were far too close that morning and the ceiling hung far too low. Her lesson in the training hall had been cancelled because the airship of the three visitors was having difficulties with take-off. At least that was how it had been explained to her when she had already finished changing and was waiting in her room. So she had no choice but to stay within these damned four walls. And how damned they were that day.

Secretly she hoped the airship wouldn't be able to take off and she could gain one more day, but what would await her in the end would have been just as painful as last night. Lin would leave and she would stay. The little bird in Su's pretty cage. She gritted her teeth and thundered her fist against the outside of her bookshelf. A dull thud sounded; she hadn't used any bending after all. The pain in her hand numbed the one on her chest for a few seconds.

She had revealed things of herself last night that she had not even confided in Baatar. Not once in the years of their relationship had she dared to show herself so vulnerable and now she felt helpless and lost. Yet it did not feel wrong. Quite the opposite. Even though Lin had met her with brusqueness and harshness, she could see that the older woman had listened to her sincerely and even understood her. Something no one had managed before.

Kuvira leaned back against the shelf and let herself slide down it. She wrapped her arms around her legs and rested her chin on her knees.

"This is not goodbye," Lin had said before she left. Her words had been returning to her thoughts again and again since last night and even though she didn't really want to allow herself to, she hoped the police chief would find a reason to come back to Zaofu. The sex had been incredible and had made her feel and sense things she didn't know like that, but what took her to even higher extremes was the mental bond they had formed with each other. Lin knew how to handle her without having her to tell her. It was an experience she had not known, and she was already thirsting for more.

Kuvira sat on the floor for some time, massaging her hand, which was now hurting much more than she had assumed. The skin on her knuckles was reddened and even torn between her little and ring finger. Grimly she looked at the small cut, then finally stood up and decided to do some exercises if she was already unable to use the training hall. She hooked her feet under the edge of her bed and did close to a hundred sit-ups before turning to squats. When her legs began to burn, she did fifty more.

"An earthbender needs a firm footing and strong legs. This is where your strength comes from." she heard Su's words in the back of her mind as she had begun to teach her earthbending properly. She had been a natural talent as a child, but she had no control over her formidable powers and Su had honed the rough diamond that she was. Just a little too sharp, Kuvira thought, and now assumed the push-up position. She started with both arms, then switched to fingertips and finally did one-armed ones. She enjoyed the burning of her muscles and how the lactate shot into her body.

As her arms shook with exertion and a drop of sweat fell from the tip of her nose to the floor, she sat back on her hooks, massaged her shoulders and let her head spin. Yes, she had overtaken Su at some point, but she had always stayed in her shadow. Until she had finally stepped out and her master had seen her true strength.

Kuvira closed her eyes and pushed the thought away. She pushed all thoughts away from her, but try as she might, these exercises did not empty her head nearly as well as dancing. She just needed to exhaust herself more so that calm would finally set in.

She stood up and opened the door to her bathroom, then stood on tiptoe and curled her fingers into the small indentation above the frame and began to pull herself up by it.

One. And now I'm in her shadow again, she thought, gritting her teeth.

Two. She was back in her old cage.

Three. Did she perhaps prefer to go back to the cell in Republic City?

Four. No, there she was completely alone with herself.

Five. But she would be closer to Lin.

Six. You don't know if she wants you as much as you want her, her inner voice reminded her.

Seven. No, she didn't know.

Eight. But sometimes you don't need to know things to know them.

Nine. ...

"Prisoner!" The door to her room flew open and Kuvira almost slipped off the frame. She lowered herself back to her feet and stared at the man who had just burst into her room. He looked rushed and like so many faces in Zaofu's guard, she didn't know his from before. His shoulders rose and fell as if he had been running. "Against the wall!" he barked in a commanding tone.

"Why?" she asked without complying with his request.

"Against the wall, I said!" The man now roared.

"I didn't do anything wrong," she said calmly.

She waited appraisingly. If the man were a metalbender, he might have already bend something in her room to force her to comply with his order.

"I won't say it again!"

Kuvira weighed her chances. She clearly had the advantage, but there was no reason for her to fight the man. It would probably only get her into more trouble. And perhaps this harassment was simply a way to test her willingness to resist. So she finally relented and stood against the wall as ordered.

He came at her with a hounded look and then dropped something from a hand that she had previously mistaken for part of his armour. It rattled and she saw two pairs of handcuffs connected by a long chain. Immediately her brows drew together but she did not move. If this was supposed to be a test, the man looked extremely nervous.

"Don't move." he ordered and Kuvira could see the beads of sweat on his clean-shaven upper lip. Something didn't seem right about this situation.

"What's the point?" she asked as he picked up those cuffs meant for her hands.

"No questions! Hands!" he said gruffly.

Without waiting for her reaction, he grabbed her right hand and let the first cuff snap shut. She caught his nervous gaze and again the inkling that something was wrong crept over her. Was the man afraid of her? Did he think she would use her metalbending against him? Or had something actually happened that he was not allowed to tell her. His physical condition at least suggested that something must have happened before he had entered her room.

The second cuff clicked and then the man bent down with a warning look and bound both her feet as well. Then he straightened up again and looked at her, clearly relieved. So he was afraid of her after all. Good thing, Kuvira thought.

"Come along." he said tersely and tensely, then pushed her towards the door. Kuvira's normal stride was now significantly shortened by the chains on her feet and the platinum cuffs cut uncomfortably into her flesh.

"Where are we going?" she asked as soon as they had left her room and were walking down the corridor behind.

The guard gave her a sharp jab in the ribs and she gasped violently. She doubled over and looked up at the man who was now looking around hurriedly.

"No questions, I said!" he hissed, then grabbed her by the arm and pulled her along.

Kuvira struggled to keep up with him and stumbled several times, still struggling to catch her breath. If things had seemed off to her so far, she now had her confirmation. None of the guards would behave like this. Something was very wrong here.

Even as she considered what to do, she heard several thuds that had to be coming from somewhere outside. Screams came in through the portal, which, she was now horrified to discover, was no longer on its hinges. One door leaf was only hanging on its upper hinge, the other was completely missing.

She reacted immediately and tore herself free. Her chains prevented her from standing steady and she fell. Even as she fell, she jerked her arms upwards as best she could but, because of her chains, failed to direct the metal from the walls in the desired direction. The supposed guard ducked and dodged the shrapnel without being hit. Kuvira slammed hard to the ground without the opportunity to properly catch herself, her hands and feet being chained together after all.

The guard picked himself up again and threw the helmet, which had slipped half off his head, carelessly to the side. The bender rolled onto her back and pressed both shoulders firmly into the ground, then she tightened both legs and as soon as the man was close enough to her and bent over, she pushed them forward with full force. She just felt a fingertip graze her sleeve, then a metal plate detached itself from the floor and crashed into the guard's chest from below. He gave a strangled gasp, then flew in a high arc against the opposite wall. A bright clang echoed through the hallway, then he slammed into one of the vases, knocked it over and remained motionless.

Kuvira wasted no time in wondering whether she had got herself into serious trouble with this action. No matter what was going on, the man had attacked her for no reason and she had fought back. Everything else could wait.

She rolled onto her side and came to her knees. As she struggled back to her feet, several things happened simultaneously. Again, impacts could be heard from outside and she thought she heard fighting noise. Somewhere from inside the house she heard more screams and orders being shouted and then a huge boulder crashed through the middle of the entrance with a deafening noise. A huge cloud of dust swept through the corridor and the many splinters that flew through the air trickled down on her and she had to protectively hide her head between her arms for a moment. She coughed and feverishly searched the floor for something to cut her chains with, but then she heard loud footsteps.

Her hands groped across the floor hoping to find a sharp shard of the chunk that she might use to pick the lock or break the links of the chains, but now she could also hear voices.

"You two go that way, you three that way, and you four come with me!" said a deep, raspy voice. Affirmations were shouted from which she could make out both male and female voices. Amid loud stomping, one of the divided groups approached and, unable to find anything with which to free herself, Kuvira threw herself behind one of the vases before the group could get too close.

The dust cloud had so far cleared enough for her to make out those who had advanced into the Beifongs' house. They were all clad in the various tones of the Earth Kingdom and carried weapons. The two men each carried a mace and a sabre; the woman was unarmed, as far as she could see, except for a dagger at her belt. Their faces were not covered, but she could not identify any of them as one of the inhabitants of Zaofu. The men appeared rough and had weather-beaten skin. The man with the mace had long hair and a bulging scar on his neck, the other wore a flat hat and a long cloak over his shoulders. The woman had tied her deep brown hair into a high knot and now caught sight of the guard lying on the ground.

"Shit!" she shouted, "It's Hao!" Quickly she went over and shook him, but he only gave a tired groan and did not move. And now Kuvira realised the full extent of what was going on.

Su had hired men and women outside Zaofu to fill the gaps in the ranks of the guards she had left behind after most of them had left with her to establish the Earth Empire. And as she knew from the conversation she had overheard, she had basically had to take whoever had come forward. And that now seemed to be Zaofu's undoing. If her suspicions were correct, and it looked like they were at the moment, Su had stocked up her guards with people who had more than questionable connections.

The two men now hastily looked around the corridor and Kuvira pressed herself even closer against the wall, forgetting her chains, which now made a tell-tale rattling sound. The long-haired man's head jerked in her direction and no matter how much she huddled behind the vase, she couldn't stop him from catching sight of her.

"There she is!" he shouted, raising his mace.

Now that she had been spotted, she dropped all caution and rammed her left elbow into the vase. The vessel moved through her bending and shot towards the man who was coming straight at her. But that did not seem to stop him. He swung his mace wide and smashed right through the clay vase, causing it to burst in the air in front of him and soil and roots to fall on everyone present.

The second the woman now reacted instinctively and stamped both feet forcefully. Moving her arms, she gathered up the earth scattered on the ground and formed it into a hard point, which she now hovered menacingly above the man with the mace.

"Don't make any false moves! We only need you for leverage, so-"

That was as far as the woman got. Kuvira heard a hiss and instinctively pressed herself back against the wall. Two metal plates swept in and knocked both the woman and the man off their feet, hurling them against the opposite wall. With a metallic squeak, the plates fused with the wall and pinned the two attackers like flies in a spider's web. Only the man with the sabres and flat hat was left on his feet, now whirling around.

Kuvira got to her feet as quickly as she could and while the guy was distracted for a brief moment, she bend the stone spike the woman had dropped. With a little push of her hands she sent the flat stone towards the man, but he only deflected it wearily downwards with a flick of his sabre.

Damn chains!, she cursed inwardly and took cover again when she heard a whirring sound. Whoever had just come into the hall was now attacking the stranger with metal ropes. The man, however, knew how to help himself better than she had expected. He danced around the ropes whipping against walls and the floor around him and deflected them with his sabres. Then additional stones flew through the corridor and burst against the walls, sending sharp-edged splinters through the air.

However, the stranger could not resist forever. One of the stones hit him hard against the thigh and he lost his footing. He stumbled and Kuvira bent forward. She slammed her hands into the ground and bend the metal between her fingers so that it closed around the man's ankles. The metal ropes finally contributed to his fall and wrapped around his body with a loud whir. The sabres fell clattering to the floor and then the stranger crashed lengthwise behind them.

Footsteps echoed through the corridor and Kuvira kept her hands where they were in case someone threatened to attack again. Those who had just duelled with the strangers now appeared to actually be Zaofu's guards. One of the men went in turn to those pinned to the walls and then to the man lying on the ground, whose hat had slipped off his head, and made sure that for now they could not escape. The other came up to her and helped her to her feet.

"Are you all right?" he asked, scanning her for injuries.

She nodded. "Who are they?" She pointed her chin at the strangers.

"Don't know yet, but-"

"Kuvira!" Su's voice sounded through the corridor as she spotted them along with the guards. She came rushing up to them and quickly took stock. "Are you all right?"

"Yes.", Kuvira replied, asking the same question again about who the strangers were.

"Probably bandits," Su explained. "The hired guards helped them enter the city. We sent out a distress call, but they destroyed the radio mast. As it is, we are on our own." Outside, thunder rumbled again and the matriarch looked back over her shoulder to the entrance portal. "You two, take her to my study and stay with her." The grey-haired woman was about to leave when Kuvira shook her head.

"Su!" she said loudly. "Take the chains off me! I can help!"

Suyin stood rooted to the spot, gritting her teeth several times so that her jaw muscles stood out clearly.

"No."

"What are you doing?", Kuvira harrumphed at her. "If you have to fight the bandits and the new guards right now, you're outnumbered!"

"Yes, but we'll manage," Su declared, visibly torn.

"Su damn it! Now is not the time for this! Take these damn chains off me!"

Her former foster mother let her eyes wander back and forth between the guards and her. She flared her nostrils in exertion and pursed her lips. "No." she merely repeated. "You barricade yourself in my study with the two of them. We don't know what they're after and you're under my protection."

Kuvira clenched her hands into fists so tightly that her nails cut painfully into her flesh. Furiously, she tore at her bonds, causing a loud rattle.

"Seriously?" the former Great Uniter roared. "Su! I can help you protect Zaofu better than anyone else here!" She glared at her in anger, then screams were heard again, but this time much closer to the front of the house. Then, however, she realised all at once that Su was not worried about the strangers coming after her and wanting to protect her, but rather feared that she would turn on them or even flee. Kuvira wrinkled the corners of her mouth in disgust. "All this time you talk about making people trust me and now you can't yourself?"

Su looked at her affected, almost embarrassed. "I'm sorry, but now is not the time," she said softly, and then she turned her back on her.

Kuvira looked after her with her mouth slightly open and then swallowed hard. For a moment it almost seemed as if all light had gone from the corridor, the sounds of battle from outside had died away and time had slowed. Suyin's statement tasted more bitter than betrayal, but felt the same. She was nothing more than the little bird that Su could take out of the cage and show around and lock back in at any time. She would never be free.

All the talk about trust and reaching out to each other suddenly seemed empty and hollow. She was only of use to her as long as she had her under control and the chains on her hands and feet were the true proof of that. And she almost had to laugh at the thought. Basically, Su had put them on her the first time she had set foot in this cursed house, only she hadn't seen them then.

"Go on." one of the guards said, gently placing a hand on her arm, as if he could sympathise with her pain. Kuvira almost didn't notice her feet moving, for her eyes were still fixed on Su's back until she finally disappeared out the door.

"See if the way to the study is clear," one guard said to the other, bringing her back to reality. Kuvira looked up and after the guard.

"There are others in the building here." If Su didn't want her help, she could at least offer it to the two men.

"How many?"

"If I counted correctly, there should be seven more," she answered him, still a stale taste in her mouth.

"Did you see where they went?"

Kuvira shook her head and continued to follow him down the corridor. Su's study had to be just around the corner. She didn't even want to ask the man next to her if he could remove her chains, because he would refuse anyway. Su's orders had been clear enough.

Suddenly a loud bang sounded further down the corridor and a second later the guard who had just gone ahead slammed into the wall and slid to the floor. The man standing next to her immediately held his arm protectively in front of her and took a crouching position. In front of them, the second guard picked himself up again, but bleeding profusely from a wound on his arm, and looked over at them.

"There are too many!" he roared. He lowered his head just in time and with a bright pling caught an arrow with his helmet and rolled to the side.

Kuvira flipped her guard's arm aside and stepped in front of him. "Now would be a good time to release me!" she said, staring hard into his eyes.

"Su ordered-"

"To hell with Su!" she roared, stamping one foot on the floor. "Get these damn chains off!"

He hesitated, eyes shifting between hers and the corridor over her shoulder. Then he exhaled in a clenched breath. "I don't have a key."

"Then destroy them! Are you a bender or not?" she ruled him.

"All right." he finally relented. "Stretch your hands out and put your feet as far apart as you can," he instructed her and Kuvira complied with his request without hesitation.

He untied the metal ropes a good distance from the contraptions at his waist and looped them first around the chain connecting her feet. Then he took a firm stance and pushed his arms apart. At her feet the chains tightened and gave a low groan, while behind them there was another scream.

"Hurry!" she urged him.

The guard tightened his grip on the chains and his arms began to shake with the effort. Su must have really expected to need those chains, Kuvira thought grimly. Then the links snapped apart and one of them struck her painfully on the shin, bringing tears to her eyes. The guard wasted no time and now tied the ropes around the shackles on her hands and repeated the procedure.

"There are some more in the corridor!"

Kuvira looked over her shoulder and saw that two of the bandits had stepped out of Su's study and were now coming towards them. She looked forward again and at that moment the chain on her hands also snapped and fell to the floor. She whirled around, her legs and hands finally free to move again, with only the cuffs on her joints, and immediately intercepted the first attack.

She jerked her arms up and restrained the arrowhead that was hurtling towards her, stopping it directly in front of her face. It hovered there for a long second, then she twirled her arms through the air, turned the arrow around and shot it back at the man who had just launched it in her direction. The bandit had no way of dodging the projectile and only managed to widen his eyes in astonishment before the arrow hit him. Kuvira had directed it so that it pierced through his upper body’s clothes and nailed him to the wall behind him without injuring him.

Before the second guy could react, she was already sprinting. She didn't care if he was a bender or not, because she knew she was faster and better. He was just lunging with a lance, trying to keep her at a distance, when she dived under the weapon, slithered across the floor and grabbed his ankle. With a jerk, she jerked his foot up and he lost his footing. Before he even came up, in one fluid movement, she had ripped out a piece of the wall and bend it over him so that he lay immobilised on the floor.

One less, she thought, and could now feel the adrenaline pumping into her limbs. A glorious feeling. Without thinking, she leapt against the now closed door to Su's study and, with a hard push of her right knee, prised the door off its hinges. The door flew into the room with her and slammed against something or someone. Startled sounds were emitted, but Kuvira took stock in a flash.

Of the seven who were in the house to her knowledge, she had finished off two outside the door. There were two more in here, which meant there were still three running around somewhere. For all intents and purposes, there was only one left in this room, as a pair of legs stuck out from under the door she had flung into the room without moving.

"Go find the others!" she yelled over her shoulder in a tone that brooked no argument. She didn't have to turn around to know that the guard was doing exactly what she asked and then she turned to the intruder standing behind Su's desk.

"What are you doing here?" she shouted, her legs already shifted to a fighting stance.

The man standing behind the desk gave her a tired laugh. He had short-cropped hair and a stubbly beard. His face was adorned with a hooked nose and narrow lips. His clothes were similar to those of the other intruders, but she could see a hardened doublet peeking through at the collar. So he had been prepared for a fight.

"Basically, nothing different from you, Great Uniter." He grinned wryly and made an affected bow.

Kuvira instantly stiffened when she heard her former title and clenched her hands into fists. Still, she tried to keep her cool. The man's voice was the one that had given the orders before and so, in terms of his dangerousness, he had automatically moved up a few places.

"And that would be?" she blubbered, "I can hardly imagine a few lousy bandits trying to unite an entire kingdom."

"Fine, as you call it. I'd rather call it the establishment of a dictatorship, though."

"Answer the question while I still give you the chance," she shrugged off his verbal dig, though his words hurt, but she didn't let it show.

He leaned forward and rested one hand on the massive desk. With the other he flicked through some documents and blueprints spread out on it. "Isn't it obvious?" He looked at her lurkingly with his bright green eyes. "Zaofu has been guarding technologies and inventions for a long time that they are reluctant to share with the other nations. And there are many people out there who would pay a pretty penny for it. And you've even helped us with that." Again he bowed teasingly to her, this time exceedingly theatrically.

"What do you mean?" she asked. As long as this bastard was so willing to divulge information, she might as well take advantage of it before she attacked.

"Meaning you made sure Zaofu was basically left defenceless." He spread his arms. "There are no domes to close the city and there are hardly any suitable guards. The opportunity was too promising to let it pass."

Kuvira stared at him, unable to form a clear thought. She was almost paralysed. She had thought that with the demise of Gaoling she had ended the aftermath of her actions once and for all, but apparently that was not the case. She was still causing suffering. Suffering that was happening to the very guards who were trying to protect her, suffering that was happening to the innocent inhabitants of Zaofu who were now being subjected to this senseless attack. And as always, it was her fault.

"It seems to me that I have hit a sore spot. Sorry, I could chat with you all day, but I have customers," he said and then pulled a leg so jerkily that she reacted far too late. He kicked the table with full force and Kuvira realised too late that the man was a metalbender. The table hurtled towards her and she just managed to raise her arms in front of her face before it hit her full on.

The air was forced from her lungs as she was caught by the piece of furniture and slammed against the wall. Something in her upper body cracked audibly and she guessed it was a rib that had just been broken. She slumped forward and let herself sink onto the demolished tabletop, shakily catching her breath, when the man lashed out again. She rammed the heel of her hand into the table and sent it back to her attacker, blocking the piece of metal he was about to fire at her. She doubled over and dived to the side before one of his next projectiles could hit her. With a gasp she landed on the floor and suppressed the pain in her right side, then she picked herself up and did the only thing that felt right. She jerked her arms up and bend the ground at her feet so that there was a wall of metal between her and the man. It wouldn't stop him for long, she knew, but it would give her time to recover from the shock.

Where she had just been full of energy, she was now in a state of inner conflict. No matter how hard she fought it, she could not get rid of the fact that these bandits had invaded the city because of her. Any attempt at recovery suddenly seemed futile and her earlier efforts fizzled into smoke before her eyes. What could she do? Her actions would haunt her forever, she realised. And perhaps Su wasn't so wrong not to trust her.

The groan of metal behind her brought her back and with eyes widening in horror she saw the man in front of her step out of the metal wall, hands first.

"Now, now. We still need you. The good Su won't give up her secrets willingly, after all."

Kuvira swallowed and then did the only thing that made sense to her at that moment. She ripped a piece of metal from the door frame and fired it towards the bandit and then she ran out of the room as fast as she could. She was in neither the mental nor physical condition to face this bender alone right now. She needed help. And for the first time, that thought didn't feel like surrender to her.

She held her side and hurried away as she had when she had fled Korra from the mech. Pathetic, she thought, but kept running. In the past, she would never have fled from a fight. Behind her, noise echoed through the corridor, but she paid no attention. All she saw was the entrance portal directly in front of her. Once she was out in the open, she could look for the others.

"Stay here!" the man behind her shouted and just as she had taken the first steps out into the open, something banged into her from behind so hard that it knocked her off her feet.

She hit the ground but was unable to pick herself up. Her side ached with every breath and as she shakily felt for her shoulder, she felt something warm. She coughed and doubled over in pain, barely able to perceive the blood on her left hand as such. The pain in her shoulder was so intense that black dots began to explode before her eyes. She helplessly tried to pull herself further forward, but her body failed her. How had she become so weak? How had she allowed this to happen?

She heard someone calling her name. A scream filled with fear. She laughed. Who cared about her anyway? Spirits, who would ever spare a thought for her? After all, it was her who was to blame for everything. Always had been. And it would never change.

Something swept over her. She was only aware of it because she felt the breeze. Then she heard a groan and loud stomping around her. Someone picked her up and said her name, but she couldn't hear who it was. She felt a hand stroking her cheek and again her name was whispered. I don’t matter, she thought. Then everything went black.


End file.
